Two Pittsfield educators charged with involuntary manslaughter in drowning of 12-year-old at summer program
A student at Herberg Middle School in Pittsfield, Essien
went to Beartown State Forest in Great Barrington on July 17 as part of the school's 21st Century learning program, prosecutors said. Towards the end of the day trip, she was taken with other students to swim in Benedict Pond.
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Organizers initially planned for two small groups to enter the water separately. But because the trip was running behind schedule, all 35 children on the trip were allowed to swim at the same time, at approximately 12:45 p.m., prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said at least three children told Braley, the program's onsite supervisor, that Essien was unable to swim and had gone under the water. Those warnings were allegedly dismissed, and Essien was not identified as missing until around 1:40 p.m., after students had left the water and got on the bus to leave.
Staff then began searching the dressing rooms and bathrooms, prosecutors said, and called Essien's father to see if she had returned to Pittsfield. At roughly 1:45 p.m., emergency responders arrived after receiving a 911 call from a concerned bystander, rather than summer program staff, according to Julia Sabourin, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office.
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Essien's body was pulled from the water just before 2 p.m., prosecutors said.
Investigators found that various lapses in supervision and safety protocols contributed to the girl's
death
,
prosecutors said. Namely, program staff never administered swim tests to the children, as required by state law, and did not keep track of
which students were in the water, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said only 25 students were expected to be on the trip, according to a state forest permit, and only 15 were expected to be in the water at any given time. But Braley allegedly allowed all 35 students in the water at once — a number that would have required an extra lifeguard on duty, prosecutors said.
Whitacre, as program coordinator, did not provide staff with orientation plans to ensure the safety of children swimming at the pond, prosecutors said.
Six adult chaperones were present on the trip, Sabourin said, along with three student interns and one student lifeguard.
In a statement, Berkshire District Attorney Timothy J. Shugrue said that Whitacre and Braley neglected their 'profound duty of care' and that 'their actions, or rather lack thereof, caused' Essien's death.
'Parents entrust summer programs with their children under the belief that these experiences will be safe and enriching,' Shugrue said. 'That trust carries immense responsibility. In this case, a series of preventable and reckless oversights directly contributed to the unintentional death of a child.'
Braley worked as a middle school English teacher at Herberg from August 2021 to June 2024, according to her
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Braley did not return to the district for the latest school year, Sabourin said. She did not cooperate with law enforcement during the investigation, Sabourin said.
An attorney listed for Braley could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. Her arraignment is scheduled for August, prosecutors said.
It's not clear whether Whitacre is still employed by the Pittsfield public schools. As of Thursday, she was listed as interim coordinator for the 21st Century program on the district's
Her arraignment has not yet been scheduled, and no attorney is listed in her case, according to court records. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
Essien had moved to the Berkshires from Ghana months before her death,
At the time of her death, she was 'just days shy' of her 13th birthday, Sabourin said.
The superintendent of the Pittsfield school district, Joseph Curtis did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at
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