School Dean Is Suspended over Charge of Groping, Paul Vitello, The New York Times, January 24, 2009

School Dean Is Suspended over Charge of Groping

By Paul Vitello
The New York Times
January 24, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/nyregion/24abuse.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

James West, suspended last week over charges of groping a student, challenged a photographer last February when the high school's principal was dismissed over a sex-related allegation.

The dean of discipline at an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in the Bronx has been suspended indefinitely after being arrested last week on charges of propositioning and groping a 19-year-old student in his office.

The dean, James West, is the second top administrator in less than a year to be removed from his duties at the school, Cardinal Hayes High, in connection with sex-related allegations. Last February, the diocese fired the school’s principal, Christopher Keogan, after photographs of nude men were found on the computer in his school office. No criminal charges were filed in that case.

Among students and alumni, the arrest last week of Mr. West, 55, was met with disbelief and a chorus of support for the dean, who was also chairman of the math department and a Hayes graduate himself, class of 1972. His arrest was reported on Friday in New York newspapers.

“All he ever cared about was our learning and safety. He was real strict but cool,” Eric Hall, 14, a freshman, said Friday. “I really don’t think it’s fair to him that this happened.”

A sophomore, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because school authorities had told students not to speak to reporters about Mr. West’s arrest, said: “All I know is, the principal told us some kid lied about Dean West touching him. Dean West ain’t that type of guy.”

In a criminal complaint filed on Jan. 14, the Bronx district attorney charged Mr. West with forcible touching and sexual abuse in the third degree, both misdemeanors. The complaint said Mr. West had called a 19-year-old student out of a class to his office on Jan. 13, forcibly reached inside his clothing and touched his genitals. Then, the complaint said, Mr. West invited the student to meet him outside school, “where I can do more.”

Mr. West pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Jan. 16, and was released without bail pending a Feb. 10 court date. He could not be reached Friday for comment, and a spokesman for the school referred questions to the Archdiocese of New York.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, which administers Cardinal Hayes and several other high schools, said Mr. West had been employed at the school for 25 years, 19 of them as a teacher and the last 6 as dean of discipline.

Mr. Zwilling said that students’ parents were notified of Mr. West’s arrest on the day after, and that no other complaints had been made against the dean, before or since.

He would not say if there were plans to review school staffing policies, in light of the dismissal of Mr. Keogan and the suspension of Mr. West. “Cardinal Hayes High School will continue its extraordinary work, educating young men and preparing them for college life and beyond,” he said.

Among the school’s alumni are the film director Martin Scorsese, the novelist Don DeLillo and the TV personality Regis Philbin. Before being expelled, the late comedian George Carlin attended for three semesters in the 1950s; he once told an interviewer: “They would hit you for not doing your homework. So I started cutting classes. I believe I had a 63-day hooky streak.”

From its start in 1941, the school has been a magnet for immigrant Catholics, first Italian and Irish, and later Hispanic and black, from working-class and poor families. A large portion of its students have received financial aid scholarships.

Juan Ulloa, a 1988 graduate who owns a specialty food distribution business, said Mr. West had been especially kind to him at the beginning of his sophomore year when his father, a bodega owner, died unexpectedly at 58.

“I missed the first three weeks of school,” he recalled, “and Mr. West really helped me out by giving me extra time before and after school to help me catch up with the work.”

Mr. Ulloa said he would not judge Mr. West or his accuser, but hoped only that “people will continue to have pride in that school — it’s a great place.”