Starks man to sue school for hiding his daughter

MADISON – A Starks man has put school officials on notice that he intends to sue them for hiding his daughter from him after a dispute in which he spanked her.

Anders Olafson said teachers and administrators at Madison Area Memorial High School refused to let him see his daughter for two days last December. He plans to seek damages in excess of $10,000.

Superintendent Anthony Krapf, Principal Colin Campbell and guidance counselor Dean Collins are named in the notice.

State law requires a person planning to sue a school to file notice of claim within 180 days of the alleged offense.

In his notice, Olafson contends the school lacked authority to prohibit his daughter from returning home. He says the handling of the matter caused “extreme and irreparable emotional distress” for the family.

Krapf says he cannot comment on the case but said school officials must relay reports of abuse from students to authorities. “Teachers do not intervene, we just notify the appropriate agencies,” Krapf said.

According to Olafson, he and his 14-year-old daughter were arguing when he hit her twice on the buttocks.

He searched for her when she did not return home from school the next day and then called police.

A Somerset County deputy later called Olafson to tell him his daughter was safe, but no one told him his daughter’s whereabouts. The Department of Human Services also became involved.

Olafson learned the next day that a school secretary had taken his daughter home, but school officials refused to let him see her until the next day, when the district attorney said the school wasn’t acting legally.

Olafson contends that police and child welfare officials are the only ones who can rightfully keep him from seeing his child.