Janitor arrested for sexual misconduct
Custodian allegedly sexually assaulted colleague after-hours
October 29, 2015
Fasel Ali, while working for a contractor for St. Louis Park Public Schools, was arrested for nonconsensual sexual conduct at the high school. Officers arrested Ali, who is currently still in custody.
The victim called the police 10:30 p.m. Oct. 9 after Ali asked her to let him into the locker room to find his cell phone, and then proceeded to touch her in a sexual manner, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office report.
Sara Thompson, director of communications for St. Louis Park Public Schools released a statement after the incident.
“Fasel Ali is an employee of Command Center, a contractor for St. Louis Park Public School. The district is evaluating its relationship with Command Center based on the recent incident with this employee,” Thompson said.
Principal Scott Meyers said his first reaction after hearing about the incident was to make sure the students and staff were safe.
“My first reaction to the situation was, are the students safe moving forward,” Meyers said. “It was a temporary employee, they’re not allowed back, the temp agency’s aware and our district is looking into what that relationship will look like.”
Since the incident occurred after hours, Meyers was not fully involved, but said he has the school in mind when it comes to safety.
“I wasn’t directly involved because of the timing of the incident, because it was after school hours and not when students were here in session. I obviously have the staff and the students in mind to make sure they’re safe,” Meyers said.
Meyers said the district human resources department is following protocol and ensuring the safety of students and staff.
“I trust that our district is moving in the right direction for keeping our students safe,” Meyers said. “Our human resources department is working on reexamining the relationship with the temp agency and what the future might look like there.”
When it comes to procedures and policies, Meyers hopes this situation encourages conversation and improvement when it comes to handling these events.
“We would just continue to ask questions surrounding the situation but also thinking about future ones. My questions right now are, for the time being, do we know that our students are safe,” Meyers said. “I think it’s always important to, as situations come up, to reexamine some of those questions.”
The Echo is investigating this issue further.
