Rape is reported at Kansas City high school

Police said a student at the African Centered College Preparatory Academy on Monday reported that she had been raped by another student during the lunch hour.

Kansas City Public Schools officials on Tuesday referred to the alleged incident as “inappropriate touching” and said the district was cooperating with police and conducting its own investigation.

According to Kansas City police, the high school student said a boy took her to another area of the building at 3500 E. Meyer Blvd. and sexually assaulted her in a stairwell.

She reported the incident to a school tutor at the end of the day, police said. Police took a male student into custody and took him to Kansas City’s juvenile detention center. A police investigation is continuing.

School principal Tyron Bates Jr. was not available Tuesday for comment, but district officials in a statement later in the day said the high school staff “took all the correct steps per policies and procedures when they were informed of the alleged incident that afternoon.”

The school statement said counseling would be available to the students involved and it said “the investigation will be thorough, will be done with appropriate due process for the individuals involved and will examine what — if any — steps need to be taken to help prevent a similar incident from happening again. We will do everything necessary to ensure that our students can attend school in a safe, secure and nurturing environment.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Rape is reported at Kansas City high school."