During the participation portion of the Columbia County School Board’s regular session meeting on Tuesday evening, former Grovetown High School student Madison Cooksey went to speak before the board. The school district’s sexual harassment policy was listed as the topic of her presentation.
“Good evening, I’m Madison Cooksey, and I’m a 2019 graduate of Grovetown High School,” she said. “I was sexually assaulted by, at the time, a Columbia County educator. As shocking as that might be, I know I’m not the only one.”
Cooksey went on to say that immediately after her alleged assault, she reported it to a teacher. The case, said Cooksey, was eventually put before a grand jury, but “no-billed,” meaning that no charges were filed due to lack of evidence.
“Safety of students and staff is a top priority,” said district communications director Abbigail Remkus. “The Columbia County School District in no way has condoned, nor tolerates, sexual harassment of any kind. All allegations of sexual harassment are taken extremely seriously, and are investigated by local law enforcement. “
On April 28, Cooksey identified her alleged assailant via social media as Scott Hooker, a Burke County High School teacher who has recently been charged with criminal sexual contact with a student. Cooksey said in that post that Hooker, who was formerly employed as a teacher at Evans High School, assaulted her while she was a sophomore.
“The case in question involves a former teacher who has not been employed by the Columbia County School District since 2017,” said Remkus. “In addition, when allegations of sexual harassment were made, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office was immediately contacted, and an investigation led to no formal charges being brought against the teacher. The teacher also received formal reprimands by the school principal and former superintendent. Again, Safety of students and staff is a top priority, and the school district takes allegations of sexual harassment extremely seriously, and will not tolerate any unacceptable behavior of this kind. ”
MORE: Burke County teacher charged with sexual offense against student
The public participation portion of the regular session allows county residents to speak before the school board regarding any issue of concern. Presenters are allotted three minutes to speak. School board members do not respond.
Cooksey urged the school board to ensure that any future student or employee reporting sexual harassment be advocated for and protected.
“I was not properly advocated for by Columbia County School Board or the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office,” Cooksey said before the school board. “Five years later, he did it again. And this could have easily been prevented if someone had listened to me.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
