Alleged sexual assault on Blue Springs school playground prompts lawsuit

A Blue Springs parent has sued the school district, claiming her daughter was sexually assaulted on an elementary school playground during recess and teachers on duty did nothing to protect the girl.

The alleged incident occurred in November 2013 at Lucy Franklin Elementary School in Blue Springs and involved three schoolchildren. Two of them were sexually assaulted and another may have directed the assault, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month.

Defendants in the suit are the Blue Springs School District, school principal Douglas Nielsen, vice principal Seth Shippy and teachers Donna Sheehy, Aubrey Tsevis and Cheryl Hughes.

Neither Shippy nor Sheehy is currently listed as an employee on the school’s website. All of them, though, were instructed not to comment about the suit, said Steven Coronado, attorney for the school district. The district referred all comments about the suit to its attorney.

Federal court documents filed on Sept. 16 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City say that while on the school playground a student “intimidated” and “frightened” the suing parent’s daughter — referred to as AP — and another girl into pulling down their pants and touching each other with their hands and mouths.

According to court records, the incident took place while the two girls were encircled by other children who witnessed the alleged assault and while two of the teachers charged with supervising recess on that day were on the playground.

The suit states that “at no time” during the incident “did any teacher, supervisor or administrator interject” and break up the scene.

But Coronado said the “district and employees deny that incidents happened as set forth in the petition. We are defending the lawsuit.”

While AP’s parents could not be reached for comment, court records said they learned about the alleged assault later that day in a telephone call from the school’s vice principal. And, according to the suit, the girl’s parents were told that “this thing has happened before and there was no need to be alarmed.”

AP was punished the next day with in-school suspension because of the incident, according to court records. The suit said her parents appealed to school officials that they did not believe their daughter should be punished because she had been sexually assaulted. The parent also wondered why the school had not immediately reported the incident to the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services. Under Missouri law, it is mandatory for schools to file reports.

The suit said that the principal and vice principal denied the incident needed to be reported and said that if it had involved a boy it would be different. Two days later, the school social worker did report the incident to the Children’s Division, according to court documents.

As a result of the incident, according to the suit, AP has experienced behavior problems, including rage and sadness, chronic nightmares and other feelings of insecurity.

The suit seeks more than $100,000 for punitive damages plus court costs. The case is scheduled for trial in July 2016.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Alleged sexual assault on Blue Springs school playground prompts lawsuit."