CHARLEROI, Pa. – A former student of the Charleroi Area School District is suing the school system for allegedly ignoring a reported rape by a school music teacher.

The unidentified student filed a lawsuit this week against the district, as well as the Bethlehem-Center School District after she was raped in 2012 by the center’s director, Jeffrey A. Hahn, and school officials allegedly did nothing to investigate the matter, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

In 2012, the student participated in a school musical “Back to the ‘80s,” which was directed by Hahn through a contract with Charleroi schools, when the director romanced and then raped the student, then 15, according to the news site.

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Hahn, 25, was eventually convicted of sexual assault and other changes and is currently serving a four- to eight-year prison sentence, despite the alleged failure of school officials to properly investigate the reported sexual assault.

According to the lawsuit, Jennifer Marie Joyce, a Charleroi teacher who recruited Hahn and was tasked with overseeing the musical, learned of the rape but failed to report the incident to authorities as required by law.

“The student faced ‘harassing confrontations and comments by fellow students,” resulting in flashbacks, wrote her attorney, Peter D. Friday. She received little support from teachers or the administration, according to the complaint, and eventually transferred to a cyber charter school,” according to the Post-Gazette.

The lawsuit alleges the district’s failure to act made her high school experience miserable, and violated her rights under federal Title IX laws, which require schools to maintain a learning environment free of sexual harassment or assault, according to the complaint.

District officials did not immediately respond to the Post-Gazette’s calls for comment, but that’s typical. School leaders likely aren’t interested in explaining to the public why they allegedly failed to protect this student from a predatory teacher. The incident itself, however, says a lot about how school districts handle these types of complaints.

The rape is among a growing epidemic of teachers sexually assaulting students that’s seemingly becoming worse by the day. New cases of pedophile teachers continue to emerge daily as legislation aimed at addressing the issue languishes in the U.S. Senate after teachers unions complained about how increased background checks and other preventative measures might impact employee rights.

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The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, has even attempted to frame the legislation as racist, alleging that more stringent background checks would disproportionately impact minority teachers, because minority teachers are more likely to have a criminal record.

Regardless, it’s critical that school officials who fail to report sexual assaults on student by their staff are held responsible for their indifference.

Advocates fighting against educator sexual misconduct have repeatedly argued that many schools are failing to protect students as required under the Title IX statute, and this case provides the perfect opportunity to send a message to school leaders that there are consequences for skirting their responsibilities.