An attorney for a 14-year-old Woodland Hills high school student said he has filed a private criminal complaint against the Woodland Hills Junior/Senior High School principal who was put on paid administrative leave this week after an audio recording surfaced of the principal threatening to knock out the boy's teeth.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office said it had not approved a complaint from the attorney.
In a recording being disseminated by attorney Todd J. Hollis of Pittsburgh, a man purported to be principal Kevin Murray can be heard saying that, if ever the matter would go to court, it would be the principal's word against the student's word and that the principal's would be believed.
Though the recording was made on a cellular phone by the student in April, it was produced to school officials only in recent days, according to Woodland Hills School Board President Tara Reis. The district responded Wednesday by placing Mr. Murray on paid administrative leave while the matter is investigated.
Mr. Hollis said the criminal complaint against Mr. Murray — a Woodlands High School grad, a popular principal and a football coach — was filed with the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office on Thursday.
The complaint alleges that Mr. Murray "threatened, harassed, bullied and intimidated" the teenage boy, a student who has a diagnosed condition that involves an "individualized education program," Mr. Hollis said.
Meanwhile, the district has moved its regularly scheduled school board meeting, set for 7 p.m. Monday, to the high school media center/library to accommodate an expected large crowd. Ms. Reis said the district has been overwhelmed with a "tsunami of support" for Mr. Murray in the wake of the incident.
The surfacing of the recording coincides with an upcoming court hearing the 14-year-old faces in Allegheny County Juvenile Court, where he faces a charge of violating state wiretapping laws in an unrelated incident. Mr. Hollis said today that his client used his phone to record a conversation with a school counselor who was questioning him about the homicide of one of his friends. Mr. Hollis didn’t know the date of the incident, but afterward the teenager posted a recording of the session to his Facebook page, which led Churchill police to file in juvenile court an allegation of wiretapping violations. Juvenile delinquency court records are closed by law but Mr. Hollis confirmed the charges and said a court hearing is set for January.
State wiretap laws restrict the recording of someone's voice without permission unless there is no expectation of privacy. Mr. Hollis said the conversation was inappropriate on the school district's part because the child is a juvenile and wasn't given an opportunity to have his parent or an attorney present. He said the incident is part of an overall investigation into how the 14-year-old client has been treated and he said he expects to file a civil suit against the school district.
Regarding his client's recording of the April 8 conversation with Mr. Murray, Mr. Hollis said there is no violation of the law because there was no expectation of privacy as the conversation was overheard and witnessed by other students. "I'm sure that's why there have been no charges filed [regarding the April 8 recording]," Mr. Hollis said.
He declined to describe in depth the "special needs" condition of his client except to say that he does not have a physical disability but has a "mental disability" that results in "behavioral issues." He acknowledged that the 14-year-old has a prior record in juvenile court and has had trouble in school before. In fact, Mr. Hollis said his client participates in a special program for students who have behavioral issues and that should have entitled him to special understanding by the principal.
In an earlier interview, Woodland Hills Superintendent Alan Johnson described the recording as "a very disturbing thing....There' s no way in the world that we would condone the use of that kind of language from an employee to a student." He said the matter will be fully investigated.
Churchill Police Chief Allen L. Park declined comment on anything related to the 14-year-old. He referred questions, through a secretary, to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., whose office the chief said is leading the investigation.
Mr. Zappala's spokesman, Mike Manko, declined to answer questions about the case but issued a written statement: “It's important to note that cases involving potential violations of the wiretap act are complicated. We have been in touch with Churchill Police and we will be detailing our own detectives to assist them. We are hopeful that the additional work will only take a couple of days after which District Attorney Zappala will inform the public about the investigation."
In a later email from Mr. Manko, responding to a request for confirmation that the complaint had been received, the spokesman wrote: "We have not approved any complaint from Todd Hollis." When pressed for clarification that the complaint had been received, Mr. Manko wrote: "I don‘t have any further comment."
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Murray has been one of the district’s top administrators as it implemented disciplinary reforms that resulted in a reduction of about 40 percent in suspensions and fewer expulsions.
Ms. Reis said that Mr. Murray was first hired as a dean of discipline, then was made assistant principal, then head principal.
"We don't condone the language. It's inexcusable. But we want the entire truth to come out, then a decision will be made as to how to proceed," she said.
Mr. Hollis said his client has felt "bullied" by the principal in the past and has felt that his concerns about that bullying were "unheard" by other administrators. He said the incident that sparked the April encounter with Mr. Murray involved a conflict between the 14-year-old and a female teacher.
"He feels he has been targeted by the school principal and other administrators for being a bad child. He has been attempting to reach out to various school administrator for support to tell them that he was being bullied by the principal. No one believed him. He told his mother that he was being bullied and his mother thought he might just be exaggerating," Mr. Hollis said, explaining why the teenager decided to record his encounter with the principal so he could prove to his mother that he was being "wrongly treated."
The incident started when a teacher was taking the boy to the principal for disobeying an order, Mr. Hollis said. The boy turned on his phone’s recording function to capture the encounter with Mr. Murray, the lawyer said.
The principal is heard to chastise the student for using a profanity to describe a teacher and notes that if he, Mr. Murray, had been called such a name, he would punch the student and knock his teeth down his throat. He furthermore threatened that if the matter would "go to court," the principal's account would be believed "every time."
Superintendent Johnson offered to meet with the family this week but Mr. Hollis said he advised the family to cancel the meeting as he prepares a criminal case against Mr. Murray and a lawsuit, as well.
Karen Kane: kkane@post-gazette.com or at 724-772-9180.
First Published: December 2, 2016, 6:22 p.m.
