School sex abuse victim uses his tragedy to close gap in law

Lincoln Singh was 13 years old when Bagley High School resource officer Neil Henry Dolan started pulling the seventh grader out of class and sexually abusing Lincoln in his office.

Last year, the former Clearwater County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to up to 36 years in prison. Dolan, 36, had already pleaded guilty in 2021 for abusing other minors at the school and at a Becker County camp. Lincoln, now 20 and living in Brainerd, is suing the school district and sheriff’s office.

But to the Singh family, having Dolan go to prison didn’t seem enough. They wanted to ensure other families don’t go through what they went through.

Singh’s family is behind a provision in the education bill that would require schools to notify parents if a student is taken out of class for unexpected reasons. Singh’s family, and legislators who are pushing for it, see it as an easy, common-sense solution so what happened to Lincoln and others won’t happen again.

“The core of the bill is to bring safety to students so people ask questions: ‘Why is that teacher taking that kid out of class?’” said Matt Singh, Lincoln’s father. “It puts the responsibility on parents, too. The school says your kid was taken out of class. So you talk with your child: ‘What’s going on?’ We were never given that opportunity. Nobody told us he was being taken out of class.”

A spokesperson for Education Minnesota said the organization seeks more clarity in the bill on when a removal from class is considered unscheduled.

“A choir teacher might pull a student to audition for a solo, or a reading interventionist might do one-on-one reading or lessons on phonemic awareness outside the classroom,” the organization wrote in a memo to legislators. “Are they legally considered ‘scheduled’ because a parent knows it will happen at some point, or is it ‘unscheduled’ because it does not exist at a set time?”

The proposed law would not apply to private schools.

“From a values perspective, every person agrees with it,” said Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, who supports the bill. “The concern we heard was when you write a law, you have to say what you mean, not just what you hope the intent is. The thing we have do between now and the end of session is make sure everyone is clear on what’s ‘unscheduled’.”

Legislators pointed to the Singh family as an inspiration, an example of democracy working.

“This is the beauty of this job — people come to you and tell you really personal and vulnerable stories about their lives,” said Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, a supporter of the bill. “Often you get a family or person saying, ‘This terrible thing happened to me; my goal is to make sure it happens to nobody else.’ As a human being, I find that extraordinarily powerful.”

Lincoln Singh is doing well, his father said. He recently married, he’s going to community college and he hopes to go to welding school in the fall. He struggles with post-traumatic stress, but counseling and religion have helped, his father said.

His family sees this proposed law as part of his healing.

“It’s a healing thing, not only for Lincoln but for the whole family, trying to make systemic change,” Matt Singh said. “This isn’t really about our son. We’ve lived the pain. We’ve lived the hell that this is. It’s for your child, your grandchild, your nieces and nephews and loved ones.”