A 15-year-old male student is facing charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement after an incident at Olds High School was reported to RCMP in March.
Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster with the Olds RCMP said he could not provide details of the incident but said it involved a 14-year-old female student.
The youth who has been charged cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He is to appear in court sometime in May, Sangster said. He is not in custody.
The incident happened on March 25 and RCMP were notified as soon as the principal became aware of the situation three days later, said Kurt Sacher, superintendent of schools for Chinook’s Edge School Division.
It was not a random incident and the victim and suspect were “acquaintances,” Sacher said.
He said the incident occurred a “good hour after school had ended” in what is known as the “breakout room” in the school, similar to a small conference room.
“As we said in a letter home to parents, there were some social complexities surrounding the situation and the main message is that we have every confidence that the safety of our students is in really good hands and we don’t have any concerns there,” he said on Wednesday.
He could not divulge any further explanation on the term “social complexities.”
“The school went out of their way to do another thorough review of their safety protocols since March 25 and we’re confident in how it was handled by administration,” he said.
Sacher could not comment if the male suspect was back in school.
The school has been in full co-operation with RCMP, Sacher said.
“We are allowing that process to unfold ... the school has been moving forward very well.”
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com