What law is Horry SC principal accused of breaking? Reporting child abuse is mandatory
An Horry County elementary school principal was arrested this week after police determined she failed to properly report suspected child abuse as part of a law designed to catch potential abuses as early as possible.
Rebecca Schroyer, principal of Ocean Bay Elementary, is facing two counts of failing to report child abuse or neglect, as defined by South Carolina’s mandated reporter law. The misdemeanor charges each carry a penalty of up to six months in prison and/or a $500 fine. She was placed on administrative leave Tuesday.
Schroyer’s arrest came in conjunction with charges against special education teacher Grace McColgan, who was accused of unlawful conduct toward children related to multiple occasions during the current and past school year.
Attorney Morgan Martin, who is representing Schroyer, described the charges against his client as an “overreach” by law enforcement because he believes the principal was “vigilant” in her actions, and didn’t violate the law. He didn’t say what actions Schroyer took, and the warrants for her arrest don’t offer many details either.
Each failure to report charge stems from alleged incidents of abuse in February, when McColgan placed hand sanitizer in a child’s open wound and hit a child back after the child hit her, the warrants state. The reports do not detail how police determined Schroyer knew about these abuses or whether she did anything with that information.
Who is a mandatory reporter?
The law she’s accused of violating requires certain professionals who are at least 18 years old to report suspected child abuse or neglect to either the S.C. Department of Social Services or a local law enforcement agency. Examples of professionals included in this law are educators, doctors, mental health counselors, foster parents and police.
Kim Stuber, operations director for SOS Care, a local nonprofit serving children and adults with autism and intellectual disabilities, said the quantity of professionals mandated under the law is important because they’re all seeing children in different circumstances that could reveal potential abuse.
“A nurse may see them with their shirt off, we work with their emotions and behavior, and a teacher is seeing them every day,” she said, adding that everyone should report suspected child abuse, even if they’re not legally a mandated reporter.
The S.C. Attorney General’s Office has also ruled that, when determining whether knowledge of the abuse was gained within a professional capacity, the law doesn’t distinguish physical location as the test. That essentially means, for example, that a teacher learning about suspected abuse while outside of the classroom would still be mandated to report it to DSS or police.
Sarah Pope, CEO of SOS Care, emphasized that it’s not the reporter’s job to investigate and know for certain that abuse or neglect occurred, but to report it to the proper investigating authority. The law specifies that a person who reports suspected abuse or neglect to a supervisor is not relieved of their duty to also report to DSS or law enforcement.
“The duty to report is not superseded by an internal investigation within the institution, school, facility, or agency,” the law states.
The principal’s responsibility
In the case regarding the Ocean Bay Elementary principal, Pope argued that if the alleged abuse was brought to her, and she did nothing with that information, she’s just as guilty as the accused abuser.
“That’s a significant issue, (if true), because she betrayed the trust of these families, not keeping them safe in your building when you knew it,” she said.
Attorney Preston Brittain, who is representing families of three alleged victims in this case, said he was happy that investigators understood the importance of holding leaders responsible.
“As a parent, we always just want to know what’s going on (with our children), so if something negative is happening, we can put an end to it as quickly as possible,” Brittain said, noting that some of these children were nonverbal and unable to tell their parents what happened.
“There’s concern with anyone involved not being forthright because that allowed it to continue when it could’ve been prevented earlier.”
McColgan’s alleged abuses occurred around February, according to arrest warrants, while an incident report shows she’s also accused of smacking kids as recently as Sept. 27. She was placed on administrative leave Oct. 11, according to the district.
Ken Richardson, Horry County Schools board chairman, said he was shocked to learn about Schroyer’s arrest. He noted the accusations are terrible if true, but he has a hard time believing she wouldn’t have acted appropriately if she was informed about the alleged abuse.
Richardson added that he’d place Schroyer among the top 5% of principals in the district, and he wants to give her the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong. Ocean Bay Elementary, with Schroyer as principal, was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019 for academic excellence.
Suspected child abuse or neglect can be reported through the DSS website or by calling the department at 1-888-227-3487.
This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
