Kansas City school leader charged with failing to report sexual assault of student
An administrator of a private school in Kansas City is charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly failing to report a sexual assault to investigators, according to court records.
Ward Worley, executive director of The Plaza Academy, was charged in September with one count of failure of a mandated reporter to report child abuse, neglect or death of a child under 18. The sexual act he is accused of failing to report was between two students, one under 14 years old and a 17-year-old, according to court documents.
Police were notified of the incident more than three months after the school was notified, according to a probable cause statement filed Aug. 22, 2023 in Jackson County Circuit Court.
The statement said detectives reviewed school records and found that the school was first notified of the incident Feb. 27, 2023 and it was not hotlined until May 5, 2023.
The Plaza Academy, located at 3930 Broadway Boulevard in Kansas City, declined to comment on whether Worley had been working since he had been charged. The school did not provide information on what administrative processes are for employees who face criminal charges.
Police were dispatched to The Plaza Academy May 5, when the incident was reported to law enforcement. It is unclear from court records who made the report to police.
Police investigate Plaza Academy administrator
Detectives spoke with a witness who said they recorded a conversation with Worley May 5 in which he stated he did not hotline the incident while he did “his own investigation.”
The witness, likely school personnel, said she has regular meetings with Worley once a month. She met with him March 8, 2023 and April 6, 2023, according to the probable cause statement, and he did not disclose to her in those meetings that he was made aware of the sexual encounter.
When police responded May 5, they were notified of an altercation between the victim of the sexual assault and another student at the school. At the time, Worley said the altercation happened after rumors going around about the victim having sex with another student.
The witness was made aware of the initial sexual assault after the altercation between the victim and another student, according to court records.
“Detectives contacted Worley to see if he would come in for a formal statement,” the probable cause statement said. “Ward stated he didn’t have anything to add, (and that) on May 3rd, 4th, or 5th, a student told him the victim was having sex with another student and Ward hotlined it.”
Missouri education officials and private schools
In an email to The Star, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it does not have any regulatory authority over private schools in the state, nor “any authority in personnel decisions in a private school setting.”
“If a private school employee holds an active teaching certificate in Missouri (not all do, nor do private schools consistently require certification), then DESE would be alerted through a fingerprint match that an educator has been arrested and charged,” DESE said in an email.
But as of January, Worley does not have an active teaching certificate with the state. He is licensed as a professional counselor in Missouri.
Worley’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
Worley is set to appear in court again Feb. 14. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail, pay a $2,000 fine or both.
