This article by Anna Merriman was first published July 14 by the Valley News.
CHELSEA — Speaking with a steady voice on Wednesday during a virtual court hearing, 25-year-old Rose Earl recalled the pain that she said has lasted for nearly a decade after being groomed by her high school principal, whom she once trusted as a “father figure.”
“That poor 16-year-old girl was being traumatized in ways she couldn’t comprehend,” Earl said of her teenage self during the sentencing hearing for former Randolph Union High School co-principal David Barnett. “How could someone who was supposed to be on my side betray me in such a way?”
Barnett, 53, who now lives in Maryland, was sentenced to nine months to a year in jail — all suspended except for one month — during the virtual hearing held in Orange Superior Court Wednesday. The sentence was part of a deal Barnett struck by pleading no contest in March to one misdemeanor count of sexual exploitation of a minor. The sentence comes with conditions, including that Barnett serve 18 months of probation; that he register as a sex offender for 10 years following his sentence; that he complete sex offender training; and that he have no contact with Earl in the future.
Barnett also was ordered to forfeit his Vermont educator’s license and agree to not seek a job at a school in the future.
“It would be an understatement to characterize the crime as a serious crime,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Zonay said during the hearing. “It affected the victim, the community, the school … the defendant violated a trust bestowed on him.”
The charge stems from a complaint Earl made in 2017, when she came forward to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and said that Barnett had struck up a friendship with her while she was a 16-year-old student at Randolph Union High during the 2011-2012 school year. Earl said she was suffering from depression and looked to Barnett as a mentor, but the relationship turned physical and Barnett started having sexual encounters with her — including on school grounds, according to an affidavit written by Orange County Sheriff’s Department Detective Lt. Scott Clouatre.
Barnett, who was fired shortly before his 2018 arraignment, initially denied the allegations, telling police he “never had inappropriate relations with a student,” according to court documents. He pleaded not guilty to one felony count of sexual exploitation with a minor. (At the time, prosecutors said, the age of consent in Vermont was 16, so Barnett was not charged with sexual assault. The age of consent threshold has since been changed to 18 for victims who are entrusted to the care of an authority figure, such as an educator or parent.)
During her statement in court, Earl, who now lives in Seattle, recalled how she initially thought of Barnett as someone she could trust while she was dealing with bouts of depression and health issues during high school.
“He listened and gave me what I thought was genuine advice,” she said in the statement. “These were merely grooming techniques.”
Earl also discussed the betrayal her family felt, especially following a school trip to Spain when she was a junior in high school. At that point, Earl said, she recently had been released from the hospital for an eating disorder and Barnett had told her mother that he would “keep an eye” on her and look out for her during the trip.
Instead, she said, he invited her to his hotel room and had a sexual encounter with her.
“Talking about it now brings back that feeling of paralysis,” she said, adding that she “went along with it” because she thought “it must be OK.”
The trust she, her family and the community at large had in Barnett was built into his position as an authority figure in the school, she said.
“None of this is your fault for trusting a man who the school said was safe. … You don’t need to carry any guilt,” Earl said through tears, addressing her parents who also called in to the virtual hearing.
In the years following high school, Earl said, she has worked hard to be strong and to “excel at anything I put my mind to,” calling herself a “tough cookie.” But, she said, the anger she feels toward Barnett — and the situation as a whole — lingers.
“These are his actions. He is, and always will be, scum who sexually exploited a minor,” Earl said. “And that right there is really good to say.”
Barnett appeared by phone for the hearing but spoke little, except to say that he will “work hard during my probation time.”
When Zonay asked whether Barnett had heard Earl’s statement, he replied, “I absolutely did.”
Zonay addressed the statement in more depth, calling Earl’s words “compelling” and “insightful” and saying they provided further information about Barnett’s “manipulation and breach of trust.”
“My hopes are for her to have closure,” Zonay said ahead of ruling on Barnett’s sentencing. “She is a strong and impressive young woman and deserves nothing less.”
In a phone interview following the hearing, Earl said having the chance to speak openly about what she endured as a teenager, especially following four years of court proceedings, has brought some sense of relief.
“It feels very empowering,” Earl said. “I do feel closure.”
She also said she was satisfied with Barnett’s sentencing, and said prosecutors consulted her before offering Barnett a plea deal. Earl said she’s glad he got some time in jail, and that he was barred from seeking work in a school again.
“I think it’s good he won’t ever teach or be around young women again,” she said.
Reflecting on her growth in the years since high school, Earl shared advice for other young women in similar positions: Trust yourself.
“If you have something that feels off about whatever is happening to you … trust your gut,” she said. “Tell a friend or therapist.”
Barnett was ordered to begin his monthlong jail sentence on July 23.
