Cowichan Valley School District will continue to bus students between Cowichan Secondary campuses in Duncan for their safety despite a report of a sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl being found to be false.
Schools superintendent Rod Allen said in a statement the public response to the alleged incident, which prompted people to raise other concerns about safety along York Road, reinforced the need for a plan to address safety.
“Given the ongoing concerns regarding the street activity along the York Road corridor, the district remains committed to providing bus transportation throughout the day for students moving between the two campuses, and will continue to provide additional noon-hour supervision,” the statement said.
The school district provided a bus Friday to move students between the high school’s main campus on James Street and the Quamichan campus on Beverley Street in response to the assault allegation. The girl had said she was walking on York Road between the campuses at the time of the alleged incident.
The campuses are about half a kilometre apart, about a 10-minute walk. About a third of the school’s 1,500 students move between the campuses, including all Grade 9s. The Quamichan campus was a middle school before it joined the high school in 2013.
Allen said the district is providing support to the Cowichan Secondary student and her family.
A residents group, led by Duncan mother Sarah Senkow, is planning a protest to draw attention to what she says has been a spike in crime over the past year. It will likely take the form of a march between the campuses 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on June 23 and 25.
Senkow created a Facebook group addressing the issue on Thursday. By Saturday evening, it had almost 1,400 members.
“We’re still proceeding,” Senkow said. “It wasn’t based just on what potentially did or did not happen to that girl. [Safety] has been a serious issue in Cowichan for a long time.”
On Friday, North Cowichan/ Duncan RCMP said an alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in Duncan did not happen.
A 40-year-old man arrested after the allegation was released.
The student told police that on Thursday afternoon, she was grabbed by a stranger, pulled into a business on York Road and assaulted. She said she broke away, then reported the incident to school staff.
“It has been proven that this reported sexual assault did not take place,” Sgt. Chris Swain said. The RCMP did not say why the arrested man was implicated.
— with files from Katie DeRosa
