PICKERINGTON, Ohio — A report about the independent investigation into former Pickerington High School North Principal Mark Ulbrich helps to connect the dots regarding his resignation earlier in the week.
10 Investigates obtained the heavily redacted report on Thursday. It indicates that Ulbrich improperly handled a student's return to school while the Fairfield County juvenile was awaiting trial for two separate sexual assault cases involving other children. The teen suspect was ultimately found delinquent, which is comparable to guilty in adult court.
Nine days after returning to school, a police report showed there was a third incident on a school bus involving another child. The teen suspect has not been charged in that case.
10 Investigates first reported all of those cases earlier this month. The report about the investigation ties them to Ulbrich's resignation.
The report says the student was allowed back in the classroom on Jan. 4, 2022, and that the principal stated the student "had the right" to return to school because the student had not been proven guilty of two cases of sexual assault that happened in June of 2021 and in August that same year.
A Fairfield County juvenile court found the student delinquent at the end of January and a judge sentenced him on March 23. 10 Investigates was in court for the student's sentencing.
The report says that on the student's second day in school, he was seen by another student walking the hallway alone. This violated the district's court-approved safety plan for the student to return to school. In the plan, which was only obtained by 10 Investigates through a public records request before it was sealed, it notes the student will be supervised by school staff present in the hallway.
This gets at the heart of the report, which notes the principal did not go into "enforcement" in regard to the student. Noting Principal Ulbrich admitted teachers did not receive paperwork prior to his return to the classroom, nor did he notify his supervisor or Petermann Transportation — the school bus company that was supposed to be made aware of the student's safety plan.
In the report, a witness, who is the transportation discipline supervisor, was unaware of the student until four days after he was allowed in the classroom.
The safety plan notes the student should sit in the first couple rows of the bus and that should be communicated with transportation.
The discipline supervisor said they were also contacted by a parent nine days after the student returned to class, saying he asked another student, who 10TV knows is 7 years old, to unbutton their pants. The teen student is not charged in this third case.
It was five days after that incident that the principal requested a copy of the paperwork, which the report says indicated his amount of responsibility for the student.
The report finds the principal did not oversee the student as he was supposed to. Ulbrich was placed on administrative leave 11 days after the incident on the bus. He put in his resignation almost exactly two months after that.
The teen will be sent to a treatment facility and will be on probation for five years. It will be determined, based on his progress, if he has to register as a sex offender. The school district is referring Ulbrich's case to the Ohio Department of Education for further review.