A D.C. elementary school principal who was desperately trying to get help for a girl whom she believed was being molested was rebuffed by a child-welfare worker, delaying intervention for the child who prosecutors say was being assaulted.

Cristina Encinas of the Latin American Montessori Bilingual School was told by the case worker that she didn’t have enough expertise to judge the situation and that she should go back and gather more evidence, The Examiner has learned.