Former Blue Valley student accuses district of negligence in sexual assault by teacher
A former Blue Valley School District student has filed a lawsuit accusing school officials of negligence after she was sexually assaulted by a theater teacher in 2018.
The lawsuit, filed in Johnson County District Court on Wednesday, is being brought by the firm Monsees and Mayer on behalf of a client who is not identified in the filing and is referred to under the pseudonym Jane Doe.
Attorneys wrote that the district already knows the identity of the former Blue Valley High School student and that she “fears additional psychological and emotional harm if her name were publicly disclosed due to the personal and sensitive nature of the allegations in this case.”
The lawsuit does not name the former district teacher, Jeremy Riggs, as a defendant but the matter revolves around a group of allegations against him. Attorneys for the former student said in a news release about the lawsuit that the district failed to address warning signs about Riggs’ behavior prior to the assault.
Riggs did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday evening.
In a message to The Star, Blue Valley School District spokesperson Kaci Brutto said the district denied allegations that it was negligent in how it dealt with the former employee and said the district would “defend itself through the appropriate legal channels.”
“What I can share with you is that Blue Valley Schools takes all reports involving student safety seriously and acts accordingly,” she wrote.
Former Blue Valley teacher Jeremy Riggs
Attorneys wrote that Riggs groomed the student before the 2018 assault, which happened while she was at the high school late one evening, and that he “used his position (of) authority to isolate, groom and engage in sexually inappropriate contact with students.”
After “numerous” reports by students, Riggs was placed on leave, and he eventually lost his teaching license, according to the lawsuit and state records.
Riggs’ Kansas teacher license was revoked in August 2021, records show.
He was charged with a count of sexual battery in April 2019 and a few months later pleaded no contest to a battery charge, according to court records. Riggs was sentenced to six months of probation, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the district “knew, or had reason to know, of red flags that indicated Riggs was unfit or posed a risk of undue harm to the young women at the school.”
Those red flags included “inappropriate communications and texting with female students, commenting on the physical appearance of female students, and being alone with female students after hours at the school,” attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit, which seeks damages from the district, said the former student continues to suffer from physical and emotional pain from the assault.
