Alabama Must Strengthen Mandatory Reporting Laws After Faith Academy Counselor Convicted
The Issue
On June 4, 2026, a jury found Carrie Meredith, a guidance counselor at Faith Academy in Mobile, Alabama, guilty of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a student by coach Jonathan Sauers. It was the second time she had been found guilty. A district court judge reached the same verdict in 2024.
A student came to Meredith with concerns. She did what she was supposed to do. She told an adult. According to prosecutors, Meredith chose to investigate the report herself rather than alert law enforcement or the Department of Human Resources. She never made the call.
A Mobile County Sheriff's investigator testified that child victims of sexual abuse commonly deny abuse when first asked. They feel embarrassed. They fear consequences. They fear for the person who abused them. That is precisely why the law requires trained professionals to investigate these reports. Not guidance counselors. Not school administrators. Trained investigators.
"Alabama's mandatory reporting law exists for a reason," Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said. "Today's verdict reaffirms that this responsibility is not optional."
Sentencing is set for June 24 before Judge Wesley Pipes. Meredith faces up to six months in jail. That ceiling is too low. And it will not change unless Alabama's Legislature acts.
We are calling on Judge Pipes to impose the maximum available sentence on June 24 and send an unambiguous message that failing a child in this way carries real consequences. We are calling on the Alabama Legislature to increase the penalty for mandatory reporting violations and require annual mandatory reporter training for every school employee in the state. And we are calling on Faith Academy to implement independent oversight of its child protection protocols so that no employee at that school ever again chooses internal investigation over a legally required report.
Jonathan Sauers has a trial scheduled later this year. The student who came forward deserves to know that the system will protect the next child who does the same thing.
Sign to demand accountability on June 24 and lasting reform in Alabama's schools.
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The Issue
On June 4, 2026, a jury found Carrie Meredith, a guidance counselor at Faith Academy in Mobile, Alabama, guilty of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a student by coach Jonathan Sauers. It was the second time she had been found guilty. A district court judge reached the same verdict in 2024.
A student came to Meredith with concerns. She did what she was supposed to do. She told an adult. According to prosecutors, Meredith chose to investigate the report herself rather than alert law enforcement or the Department of Human Resources. She never made the call.
A Mobile County Sheriff's investigator testified that child victims of sexual abuse commonly deny abuse when first asked. They feel embarrassed. They fear consequences. They fear for the person who abused them. That is precisely why the law requires trained professionals to investigate these reports. Not guidance counselors. Not school administrators. Trained investigators.
"Alabama's mandatory reporting law exists for a reason," Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said. "Today's verdict reaffirms that this responsibility is not optional."
Sentencing is set for June 24 before Judge Wesley Pipes. Meredith faces up to six months in jail. That ceiling is too low. And it will not change unless Alabama's Legislature acts.
We are calling on Judge Pipes to impose the maximum available sentence on June 24 and send an unambiguous message that failing a child in this way carries real consequences. We are calling on the Alabama Legislature to increase the penalty for mandatory reporting violations and require annual mandatory reporter training for every school employee in the state. And we are calling on Faith Academy to implement independent oversight of its child protection protocols so that no employee at that school ever again chooses internal investigation over a legally required report.
Jonathan Sauers has a trial scheduled later this year. The student who came forward deserves to know that the system will protect the next child who does the same thing.
Sign to demand accountability on June 24 and lasting reform in Alabama's schools.
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Petition created on June 4, 2026