Kansas high school let student stay after sexually assaulting classmate: lawsuit
When a student at a northeast Kansas high school reported that a male student raped her at school, the district allegedly allowed him to stay even though he was facing charges for other sex crimes, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
After the sexual assault at the high school, the male student was charged with rape and aggravated sexual battery. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of sexual assault.
Both students attended Royal Valley High School in Hoyt, about 17 miles north of Topeka.
The allegations are outlined in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Kansas against the Royal Valley School District, its board of education and its superintendent, Aaric Davis.
Davis told The Star he was “not aware of the lawsuit being filed” and could not discuss pending litigation.
Christopher Dove, the plaintiff’s attorney, said the school district failed to protect the student and would not help her or provide information to her parents after she was assaulted.
“They clammed up and didn’t provide information to her father,” Dove said. “It becomes a legal matter because the school didn’t want to take care of her on the front end and even after it happened didn’t want to take steps to make her feel that it was a school she wanted to return to.”
The Star generally does not name possible victims of sexual assault.
Rape at school
The suit, filed by the victim’s father, alleges the male student was a “known danger” to female students.
The male student, identified in the suit as W.H., was charged in March 2016 with multiple counts of sexually soliciting minors, sexual exploitation of minors and making a criminal threat of sexual assault against a minor, according to the suit.
The charges stemmed from incidents that occurred during November and December 2015.
In August of 2017, according to the suit, he was charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
His criminal records are filed under seal in juvenile court.
The lawsuit claims the district was aware of both cases when, in November 2017, W.H. raped the girl in the elementary school portion of the building, which also houses the district’s high school.
The woman reported the rape to school officials. However, the suit says, the district allowed W.H. to stay at the school, forcing the woman to learn in the same classrooms as her alleged rapist.
Because of this, the suit says, the woman transferred to another school.
The lawsuit claims the district violated its own policy against sexual harassment and bullying and failed to protect students when it chose not to act against W.H. before or after the November assault.
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
