The Boise School District Wednesday shared the findings of an independent investigation into reports of child abuse committed by a former special education paraprofessional at Valley View Elementary School. 

The paraprofessional, Gavin Snow, was involved in multiple instances of inappropriate behavior with more than one student in a bathroom and sensory room, the Boise Police Department confirmed. 

“Our entire district administration and our Board of Trustees apologize for the trauma the victims and families have suffered, as well as the confusion and anxiety felt by our entire community through this experience,” Lisa Roberts wrote in a letter to Valley View parents and staff.

Roberts said she hopes the district’s actions since discovering the violations and its “long-term commitment to improving student safety, transparency and openness, are evidence of how seriously we take this situation and that we will be accountable for rebuilding our relationships with you and our community.”

The incident first came to light in January, when Snow died of self-inflicted injuries after officers attempted to arrest him on suspicion of child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes, as Alex Brizee of the Idaho Statesman reported. 

The investigation findings released Wednesday uncovered practices at the school and districtwide that allowed for situations where an adult could be alone and unseen with students. The investigation recommended new practices and policies to prevent those situations from occurring again. 

Just six hours after Boise School District sent out a news release reassuring stakeholders that steps were being taken to improve student safety and repair the “damage done to the trust our public places in us every day,” it sent a second statement revealing that a substitute teacher had been arrested following an investigation into sexual abuse of a minor. 

The district said it “took immediate action” to terminate Tyler Chorjel’s employment.

Last school year, Chorjel was an assistant baseball coach at East Junior High School and Les Bois Junior High School. This school year, he worked as a substitute on 7.5 days, as recently as last week. All of those days were at Timberline High School, with the exception of one day at Boise High School. 

“We recognize that this news is distressing,” a school district news release said. “The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so throughout their investigation. We are also working to ensure that appropriate support is available for any students, staff, or families who may need assistance during this time.”

Valley View investigation findings and district changes

Release of the Valley View investigation findings came after district and school leaders met privately with Valley View families Tuesday night. Dan Hollar, a public affairs administrator with Boise School District, said the meeting was held privately in response to concerns voiced by parents following a January meeting that included some members of the media. 

“Our intent was to create a setting where families felt comfortable asking questions and sharing their perspectives directly with district leaders,” he wrote in an email. 

Several findings focused on Valley View:

• Staff sometimes had their cell phones in the bathroom when helping students.
• A sensory room — located between two special education classrooms — had its doors closed while students were in the room, prior to Jan. 7. 
• One special education classroom had its own bathroom. Although the bathroom door was always open “it would be difficult to see what was going on in the bathroom” from the classroom. Plus, “a person sitting on the chair in the bathroom could look into the mirror and see if someone was coming into the bathroom.” 

Other findings were districtwide:

• Just over half of special education classrooms have a bathroom in the classroom. 
• Some schools require two adults to be present when assisting a student in the bathroom. Others do not. 
• Some schools have radios in the bathroom in case assistance is needed. Others do not. 

Based on recommendations from the investigation, the district made several changes to bathroom/sensory room procedures:

• Under a new policy, no phones are allowed while staff are diapering students or helping them use the bathroom. At Valley View, a box has been placed outside the bathroom for phones. 
• The sensory room doors are now left open. 
• Two staff members must be present when a student is being diapered or helped in the bathroom. Staff members must log when they have assisted with toileting and diapering. 
• The district is implementing standard procedures on toileting and bathroom support districtwide. The policy will include a two-person assist or line of sight/hearing in bathrooms, and the use of Dutch doors as standard procedures to reduce the risk of abuse in the future.

The district is also making changes to training:

• The district added content to annual training to ensure staff “clearly understand the requirement and their obligation to report suspected child abuse.”
• The district updated training on examples of possible indicators of child abuse that may apply specifically to students with disabilities.
• The Boise Police Department will provide training to administrators on reporting requirements, implicit bias and other “components common to misconceptions about child abusers.”
• The district will work with the BPD to identify and provide training for parents on identifying the signs of child sexual abuse.

Read the full investigation report here.