Chapel Hill private school sued over allegations of child-on-child abuse
Three families suing a private school in Chapel Hill are accusing staff members of gross negligence in their handling of alleged sexual harassment and assault involving a kindergarten student whose parent works at the school.
The incidents weren’t reported to law enforcement for a week or more after they occurred, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by The News & Observer. Some occurred after a deputy told the Emerson Waldorf School’s director of education that state law requires her to notify law enforcement about crimes against children.
The school’s alleged delay in notifying parents and law enforcement, failure to launch a required federal Title IX investigation, and failure to take corrective action exposed other students to harassment and assault, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 29 in Orange County Superior Court.
It also claims Waldorf ideology and Association of Waldorf Schools of North America training fosters a climate that accepts sexual assault and harassment and discourages administrators and staff from contacting law enforcement.
It accuses Emerson Waldorf School, The Waldorf Educational Association of North Carolina, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, director of education Colleen Everhart and other school staff of gross negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on the students.
Everhart is also vice president of the AWSNA Board of Trustees.
The accused student, the alleged victims and their parents are only identified in court documents by letters of the alphabet.
The N&O left a message at the school for Everhart, who did not return the call. The Emerson Waldorf School’s Board Executive Committee acknowledged the call in a statement late Tuesday and said, “the safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities, and we take any report of inappropriate student behavior seriously.”
The statement also clarified that because the incidents involved young children, “the term ‘sexual assault’ is not an appropriate characterization under the law, as criminal intent cannot be attributed to 5 and 6-year-old children.”
The board declined to address the lawsuit’s claims, but said school employees did not act “negligently or improperly in connection with the incidents and EWS’s response to those incidents.”
The parents’ lawsuit contains “multiple misstatements of the facts and the law,” and “we are appalled that the Plaintiffs have alleged that EWS and its personnel ‘encouraged’ ‘sexual deviance’ among the 5 and 6-year-olds in the kindergarten classes,” the group said.
Assault on school playground
The incidents occurred during the 2023-24 school year, beginning in the fall, when the accused student — identified as Student D — “kissed an unknown child on the playground multiple times,” the lawsuit says.
In October 2023, a teaching assistant saw the same boy and two others — Students F and B — chasing a female student, it says. A teacher intervened, and the female student left to play with Student B.
Students D and F later joined them, pulling on the girl’s hair, it says. Student F pulled hard enough to remove hair from her head, it says, and then suggested playing “the bottom game,” removing the girl’s pants and underwear.
Student B, was “coerced” to join in and poked the female student with a stick before running away, the lawsuit says. Students D and F then sexually assaulted the female student, hitting her with a stick “so hard that it left bruises,” it says.
The lawsuit says Everhart and school therapist Kelli Underwood advised the parents of Students F and B to enroll their children in an intensive 12-week program and get a problematic sexual behavior evaluation before their children returned to school.
Student D’s parent was also told to seek an evaluation before the return to school, it says.
The lawsuit claims only Student B attended the program, and Student D was not required to attend because his mother works at the school. Student B’s therapists told the school to put a safety plan in place, including “eyes-on supervision” of the students, it says.
Everhart and Underwood “were both fighting the suggestions of the therapists saying it was unreasonable for the school to provide ‘eyes-on supervision’ at all times,” the lawsuit says.
Law enforcement, CPS contacted
Reports show someone first contacted Orange County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Kevin Jones on Nov. 7, 2023, saying the children were interviewed and receiving therapy. The person is not identified and declined to share more information, citing federal health privacy laws, the report says.
Those laws don’t apply when a child may be the victim of a crime, Sheriff’s Investigator Dawn Hunter said in the report. She notes the Chapel Hill Police Department Crisis Unit also was contacted about the incident.
Jones called Everhart, who told him “they” were “waiting to hear back from the school’s lawyer to see if they needed to report the incident(s) to law enforcement,” the lawsuit says. Everhart said two incidents involving the same child were reported to the Department of Social Services, which manages the Child Protective Services office.
Jones said he told Everhart multiple times that state law requires the school to notify law enforcement about crimes against children.
CPS does not investigate child abuse involving a third party, such as another child, babysitter or teacher. That responsibility falls to law enforcement, said Lindsey Shewmaker, Orange County Department of Social Services director. CPS can be called to investigate if law enforcement suspects a child accused of assaulting other students is being abused by a caretaker, guardian or parent, she said.
It’s not clear whether that happened in the Emerson Waldorf case, because CPS investigations are not public under state law, she said.
More incidents reported in 2024
On Nov. 14, 2023, the school moved Student D to a different kindergarten class, the lawsuit says.
No other incidents were reported until May 13, 2024, when another female student told her family that Student D had used “hand signals” to arrange a meeting during recess with her and an unidentified male student in a storage shed.
Student D encouraged the students to show and touch each other’s private parts, the girl reported. Her family informed the school, but no report was made to law enforcement and no corrective action was taken, the lawsuit says.
Sheriff’s Office records show Everhart filed a May 20 report about children assaulting other children, and also contacted CPS staff, who did not investigate. On May 23, Jones said he called Everhart, who told him that the accused child had been removed from the school, and the victim was receiving therapy.
The lawsuit says the parent of another male student was called on Friday, May 31, about a meeting with school officials. The parent learned the next week that Student D had performed a sex act on her son in exchange for candy.
The male victim was taken to a therapist after he started exhibiting behaviors common among child sexual assault victims, including social anxiety and a reluctance to attend school, the lawsuit says. The boy’s parent claims Everhart and Underwood were supposed to file reports with the Sheriff’s Office and the Orange County Department of Social Services.
Everhart reported an incident involving “inappropriate sexual encounter” on June 14, 2024, Sheriff’s Office reports show.
The report says Everhart told Jones that the parents, school attorney and DSS staff had been notified. The school restricted access to the shed and put a safety plan in place, it says.
The lawsuit says school officials did not require Student D to have a psychological evaluation or provide the victim with therapy, and failed to notify the student’s parents in a timely way.
Lawsuit spotlights Waldorf culture, training
The school committee outlined a number of steps that staff took to address the incidents in Tuesday’s email, including an immediate suspension of students involved, retaining a therapist specializing in childhood sexual behavioral issues to advise the school, and getting advice from the school’s attorneys.
“Any suspended student’s family who wanted to return to EWS was required to have their student undergo an assessment from a qualified independent therapist,” the group said. “EWS provided additional training to its Early Childhood teachers and assistants on warning signs for such behavioral issues.”
The parents’ lawsuit says the school’s response mirrors ideology and training promoted by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America and cites an excerpt from the book, “Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner,” that encourages confidentiality in handling things that happen at school.
That creates “a culture, custom and practice of acceptance of sexual assault and harassment within its schools and the value that outside law enforcement should not be brought in,” the lawsuit says.
Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, saw education as a child-centered opportunity for emotional development, creativity, and practical, nature-based learning. He is also the founder of anthroposophy, a system combining science, spirituality and the arts with the belief that people evolve spiritually over multiple lifetimes and each person is responsible for their own moral and spiritual development.
There are over 1,100 Waldorf schools in 80 countries, including 167 in North America, but only one in North Carolina. Emerson Waldorf School was founded in 1984 and now serves roughly 260 students in grades K-12, according to online reports.
The school’s website says its students are taught to think critically with a focus on social and environmental justice.
The families are asking for a jury trial to determine the damages from physical harm, financial loss, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional distress, as well as punitive damages.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
