NY AG Report: Babylon Officials Ignored Decades of Educator Abuse

The New York Attorney General’s Office concluded its review of the Babylon School District on Wednesday. The report assigns direct responsibility to school administrators for allowing educator sexual misconduct to persist for decades.

The investigation spanned nearly five years and included interviews with almost 100 individuals. Investigators also analyzed thousands of pages of district documents. The findings indicate that school officials received multiple reports of sexual harassment and misconduct by teachers over several decades.

The state determined that administrators repeatedly failed to respond adequately or at all to these reports. First Deputy Attorney General findings state that teacher misconduct became so normalized among staff and students that other educators learned from these examples. This environment allowed similar behavior to continue without consequence.

Brittany Rohl, a 2011 Babylon Junior-Senior High School graduate, spoke publicly about her experience five years ago. She was 16 years old when she says a teacher groomed and sexually abused her. Rohl described the report as accurate and validating. "It is really horrific, beyond comprehension in some ways," Rohl said. "And so I think that that might make it hard for some people to accept, but it's what happened."

Barbara Maier, a 2008 graduate, also came forward after Rohl’s 2021 disclosure. Maier said the behavior felt ordinary to students at the time. "It was so normal for us to have stuff like this happen," Maier said. "We almost became desensitized to it and numb to it."

Babylon Superintendent Carisa Manza condemned the misconduct and outlined new safety measures. These steps include a partnership with the Crime Victims Center for staff and student training. The district will also conduct weekly visits to the junior-senior high school and maintain an anonymous reporting system for the community.

The Attorney General’s Office plans to release its full findings by the end of the year. The Babylon superintendent criticized the state for sharing limited findings with news media instead of providing the final report directly to the district.