Louisiana Voice

In a follow-up to our story of Dec. 24 about that $450,000 judgment against the St. Tammany Parish School Board in the case of the 2007 RAPE of an 11-year-old boy by a custodian at Abney Elementary School in Slidell, LouisianaVoice has learned more disturbing details about how the school board handled the matter.

Apparently, it wasn’t enough that the board offered a paltry settlement that wouldn’t have even cover the medical expenses of the victim, and apparently it wasn’t enough that the board had the insensitivity and the brass to appeal the judgement (which was upheld on appeal), but now we learned that the board:

• Did not follow up with appropriate action (firing) when the background check on Dino Schwertz came back showing that he had lied on his job application when he checked “No” to the question of “Have you ever pleaded guilty or no contest to or been convicted of a criminal offense?”
• Fid not inform his principal when that background check revealed that Schwertz was still on probation for a bank fraud conviction and for violation of a protective order.
• Inexplicably transferred him to a permanent job at Northshore High School.

The vice-principal at Northshore at that time was Frank Jabbia.

He was PROMOTED to St. Tammany Parish School Superintendent last October.

His father, Peter Jabbia, was Deputy Superintendent when Schwertz was first hired at Abney and in June 2020, was appointed interim superintendent until his son was appointed superintendent four months later. He also served as a member of both the Louisiana Association of School Executives and American Association of School Administrators.

Kathleen Katorchis, who was principal at Abney at the time of Schwertz’s hiring, testified in a sworn deposition in the lawsuit cited above that Schwertz’s lying on the employment application would have prompted her to recommend firing him but she was not informed of the background check’s contents. He was eventually fired – months later and only after school officials learned he was being investigated by Slidell police.

So, why didn’t Katorchis know about the results of the background check?

Well, that would be because Deputy Superintendent Peter Jabbia didn’t inform her of the results and the information in the background report was never checked against his application.

The lawsuit by Schwertz’s victim said no one in the school system checked Schwertz’s references or called his current employer for a reference. Attorneys for the school system even argued that none of the information it had about Schwertz (in the background check) would have raised any red flags as to the possibility that he might harm children (and thus, apparently, would not disqualify him from employment).

Would not have raised any red flags? Seriously?

So, why have the question on the application at all, then?