Outrage Over Plainview Elementary School Assault; Superintendent Under Fire
A Plainview elementary school has found itself at the center of a maelstrom of controversy following reports of an alleged incident involving a 6-year-old girl and a group of her male classmates.
According to coverage from EverythingLubbock, the parents of a 6-year-old female student at Plainview South Elementary School say their daughter shared alarming information with them after they noticed extreme behavioral changes in her.
Statements from the parents given to the news outlet allege that several of their daughter's classmates forcibly engaged her in inappropriate conduct in a classroom. That incident was recorded on a school iPad by one of the boys. The video was discovered by an employee of the school the next day, who then notified school authorities.
Initial reports indicate that the assault took place while the teacher was present in the classroom but said to be assisting other students while listening to music through earbuds. The teacher in question has been placed on administrative leave.
The Plainview Independent School District released a statement in response to the incident. In the statement, administrators say they contacted Child Protective Services to report the incident immediately after the school employee turned in the iPad with the video footage of the assault.
The cornerstone issue for the parents of the victim is their disbelief that they were not informed. The family states that they were not told about the assault until a week and a half afterwards, when the family began to question the girl's radical change in behavior.
The girl also spoke about a separate incident where one of the boys exposed himself to her during their lunch period. In a statement given to KCDB, the aunt expresses disbelief that her niece was kept in the same classroom group with the boys after the incident had occurred and nothing was done to alert the family about a sexual assault against their minor child.
Amid the public outcry in response to the incident, several parents have begun to call for the resignation of school Superintendent, Dr. H.T. Sanchez, and the dismissal of the child's teacher.
Similar Incident Took Place in 2018
This is not the first time the school superintendent has been in the hot seat. According to a 2018 news story, Sanchez was paid $20,000 to leave Tucson Unified School District before his contract ended.
And in an uncanny parallel to the series of events unfolding in Plainview, the news story details an eerily similar incident:
In October 2016, a school in Dr. Sanchez's district made headlines when a student reported her teacher sexually abused her and school officials waited six days before notifying police
A protest was organized by furious parents/guardians just outside of the administration building on May 1 due to the severity of the incident and the lack of transparency the school had on the situation.
Another protest has been organized outside of the administration building for Friday, May 5, at 6 p.m..
At this time the school has no comment on the incident as the investigation is currently active through CPS.