ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- "It changed me. It made me a more depressed person. If I hadn't told my parents, I'd be dead right now," said freshman Caitlin Smith.

One incident in a high school hallway not only changed her life, it also altered the entire course of her education.

"We were in summer school, and we came out into the hallway for one of our breaks," she explains.

Caitlin was in the final days of a summer program for incoming freshmen at Englewood High School last year, when the unlawful sexual contact took place.

"He told me, ‘Let me see those.’ What he meant was, let me see your breasts," she said.

Caitlin said she tried to fend off a boy she thought was a friend.

“I smacked his hand and told him no. He tried two other times and on the last try, the third time, he grabbed and seen my boob,” she said.

“What are you feeling at that moment?” asked Call7 Investigator Theresa Marchetta.

“I was really depressed. I was freaking out. I was crying,” she said, “I kept on washing my whole body. I felt dirty.”

Caitlin said on the drive to school the next day, she broke down.

“I was crying, trying not to go to that school. My mom kept asking me why,” she said.

“I got her to tell me through the tears as much as she could tell me,” said Sue Smith, Caitlin’s mom.

For Smith, it was the start of a painful, emotional ordeal she said her daughter almost didn't survive.

"She was actually hospitalized at Christmas to get her stabilized," Smith said.

The boy who attacked Caitlin was suspended for the final three days of the summer program.

“They told me they'd call police. They’d pull the boy in and speak to him,” Smith said.

But then the family learned the boy would be returning to Englewood High with Caitlin in the fall.

“They gave me this right off the bat,” said Smith pulling a document from a folder.

Smith was handed a “No Contact Notice” by the vice principal, a document the Englewood School District uses to separate feuding students.

“They said she'd have to sign that before starting school. I read it over and I was offended by it. Like she did something wrong," said Smith.

That is because the document reads: "You have been involved in an incident that may be criminal in nature," and that suspects can not "harass, threaten, annoy, disturb, follow or have verbal/physical contact with any victim or witness in this incident."

"I think that would be a piece on the perpetrators side not on the victim’s side," said Englewood Superintendent Sean McDaniel.

He said the No Contact Notice is primarily intended for a suspect.

"She signs that, is that appropriate?" asked Marchetta.

"Well, that is one of the documents we use," said McDaniel, “Is it appropriate that she sign it? A no contact is simply that. It's an agreement being made," he added.

“Is that document necessary to protect a victim, which is what this family was lead to believe, is that true?" asked Marchetta.

"I think it's a step in the process of trying to keep folks safe," answered McDaniel.

That process also calls for the perpetrator to sign, but the boy never did.

Marchetta found, it was one of many instances the Englewood School District did not follow its own policies to protect Caitlin.

Smith explained the plan outlined to her upon Caitlin’s return to school.

"He (the offender) would have a specific route to take through the school. They would set it up where they wouldn’t run into each other except at lunch time," she said.

Smith says she was guaranteed an escort would walk Caitlin to classes.

But on her first day back, disaster.

Caitlin was taken right back to the scene of the attack.

"They guaranteed they wouldn’t take me down that hallway. I was freaking out, crying, upset. I didn’t want to go through, was closing my eyes,” she said.

When Smith confronted the vice principal about the incident, she said he admitted they were not prepared and asked Smith to take her daughter home while they re-evaluated their process.

"They're asking me to hold my daughter out of school and give an education to a child who shouldn't even be there," Smith said.

While Englewood High administrators were floundering, the criminal case was getting under way.

Caitlin’s attacker was charged with unlawful sexual contact in juvenile court.

Marchetta asked McDaniel, theoretically speaking, if it would ever be acceptable for a student accused of committing such an offense to remain in the population during the proceedings.

"That’s a great question. No," he said, adding, “In that scenario to just to turn the kid loose back in to the student population with no requirements, parameters? No, I can not foresee a situation like that."

But Marchetta learned, that is exactly what happened at Englewood High.

“So even when this young man was charged with a crime, nothing happened?” Marchetta asked.

“Nothing happened,” said Smith, “No child should have to face someone who’s assaulted them in school hallways, I don’t care what it is.”

Months later, Caitlyn got her day in court.

On Jan. 6, her attacker was found guilty of sexual contact- no consent.

"He was back to school January 7. He is still walking the hallways," said Smith.

"It's sad, pathetic, outrageous and common," said Dr. Ben Leichtling.

Leichtling is a renown bullying expert and author of three books on the subject.

He said parents need to listen for catch phrases administrators often use to re-victimize their kids.

"And if they hear words like ‘misbehavior,’ or ‘kids will just be kids,' or ‘the right to educate,’ that sort of thing, those are warning flags," said Leichtling.

But, those words are exactly what Smith said she heard from the Principal of Englewood High.

"He said he has a right to an education," said Smith.

“They were ostracizing the victim and it's making my blood boil. We've seen this hundreds and hundreds of times. It's always the same words, like they said, ‘he has a right to be educated,’ and that's fluff. He doesn't have a right to be educated next to her,” said Leichtling.

“Should a student be expelled or consider being expelled for having unwanted sexual contact with a student?" Marchetta asked McDaniel.

"Absolutely, no question,” he said.

“Sexual contact? I would expect an administrator to suspend with a recommendation for expulsion. Then, that would land in my office,” McDaniel continues.

The superintendent's comments are in sync with district policy, which clearly states, multiple times, what happened to Caitlin was a "level one" offense, "those which will result automatically in a request for expulsion to the superintendent."

Marchetta found the penalties defined under "harassment/sexual harassment" in the district's Discipline Code, and under "grounds for suspension or expulsion," and "violation of the district's policy on sexual harassment," in the school’s conduct code.

The policy is also outlined under the title "mandatory expulsion." Some of the offenses that qualify are "infractions of the law" including "unlawful sexual behavior."

But the offender was never expelled.

"What about the victim?" Marchetta asked McDaniel.

"What about her?” he replied.

“Exactly. What about her? She's not in school but he is," Marchetta responded.

"Are these policies being followed by Englewood High School administrators?" Marchetta continued.

"You’re hearing an isolated story. What I would tell you is I have high confidence in our administrators in this district,” McDaniel replied.

"When you hear him talking, you hear the same stuff you hear of the wishy-washy protectors of perpetrators," Leichtling said after watching some of Marchetta’s interview with McDaniel.

“Do you think these school officials care about you?” Marchetta asked Caitlin.

“No,” Caitlin replied, shaking her head.

Caitlin is still finding a way to move forward after feeling betrayed by those she trusted.

Her mom says she could not be prouder of her daughter’s courage in coming forward.

"She speaks for a lot of people who don't. She is doing what most people are afraid to go back and do. So, I honor her for that," Smith said.

For more information on bullying and harassment, BulliesBeGone.