Ocean City Alumni Urge Authorities To Investigate High School

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Six former Ocean City High School students launched a petition Thursday calling for an investigation into allegations of misconduct by school officials.

The petition includes more than 50 anonymous accounts of bullying, sexual abuse and negligence that current and former students experienced while attending Ocean City High School. The petition has attracted more than 2,800 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

The petition is urging the State Police, the FBI and the Cape May County’s Prosecutor's office to start an investigation into “Ocean City High School’s faculty, guidance, and administration for disorderly persons offenses, failure to act, reckless endangerment, child endangerment, wanton endangerment, reckless negligence, gross negligence, neglect of duty, failure to report, complicity/aiding and abetting, and wrongful death due to negligence, as well as any other criminal acts that are discovered within the scope of the investigation.”

In a statement provided to Patch, the Ocean City School District said it was not aware of the allegations detailed in the petition prior to its publication on April 22.

“The physical safety and mental well-being of our students have always been among the Ocean City High School District’s foremost concerns. The District has consistently maintained and enforced all anti-harassment, intimidation and bullying policies required by the Department of Education, as well as all reporting obligations for any student who is suspected to have been abused, neglected and/or missing,” the district statement reads.

According to the statement, the Ocean City Police Department and the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office are reviewing the allegations to determine their origins.

Former student Brianna Thomas, 24, of Ventnor, is one of the six students who co-authored the petition. She said the group was inspired to start the petition in March after former Ocean City High School teacher, Ricardo Valle, 34, of Seabrook, Texas, was arrested on charges of sexual assault.

The following month Ocean City Police Sergeant Tyrone Rolls was accused of sexually assaulting a high school student on April 7. The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office then launched an investigation the following week on April 14 into allegations of sexual harassment and assault made against unnamed members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol.

The alumni who created the petition have graduated within the past five years, with the exception of Thomas, who said she dropped out of Ocean City High School due to bullying during the 2011-12 school year and earned her GED.

Thomas said both current and former students shared their stories with each other on social media, but their names will remain anonymous in the petition.

The time frame of the allegations in the petition is wide ranging, according to Thomas. The oldest allegation they have received is from 20 years ago.

Thomas will discuss the petition at the Ocean City Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.

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