Wheatfield, NY (WBEN) Michael Mann, principal of Niagara Wheatfield High School as been placed on administrative leave, the district announced Thursday.
In a statement on its website, Mann has been placed on administrative leave pending the findings of an outside, independent investigation. The district adds it is very important that we allow all of the facts to be collected in this matter.
Mann has been under fire since parents learned a student who admitted to raping another who attends the high school was allowed to be in the building for classes the entire year. The incident happened last summer off campus and was not during a school-related event.
The victim's mother and Superintendent Daniel Ljiljanich have given conflicting accounts of when the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District learned of Elias Dowdy's May 23 plea.
Students and parents were furious action was not taken sooner. That led to a walkout on Friday.
At a heated Board of Education meeting Wednesday, the mother said she told Mann about the plea the day after it happened. Ljiljanich said he didn't know about it until late May 30 and immediately barred Dowdy, 19, from school.
"It is very important that we allow all of the facts to be collected in this matter," the superintendent wrote in announcing Mann's suspension on the district's website. He said an independent, outside investigation would be conducted.
Dowdy, who pleaded guilty to third-degree rape, attended nearly his entire senior year and played on the school's lacrosse team while his criminal case was pending. His accuser attended the same school.
"I was stuck seeing my predator every day," the victim said in a statement read by her mother at Wednesday's meeting. "I had to deal with people bullying me about it and sending me photos of him and people accusing me of lying about it."
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly.
About 100 students walked out in protest of the district's handling of the case May 30 and some were suspended for their participation.
Dowdy is scheduled to be sentenced July 25 and Jeff White is currently serving as Acting Principal.