Parents sue Lawrence school district, say it failed to report sexual harassment
A former Lawrence resident has filed suit against Lawrence Public Schools USD 497 after the district allegedly admitted it failed to properly report sexual harassment claims his daughter made against her middle school gym teacher.
The man’s attorney filed the suit on Jan. 30 in the United States District Court District of Kansas, alleging four counts of sex discrimination and harassment creating a hostile educational environment, four counts of retaliation and one count of outrage and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to a federal complaint.
The suit claims that as a result of the district’s conduct, his daughter was forced to miss school and had to avoid staff members . She was fearful and panicked at school, the lawsuit said, and was eventually “forced to move across state lines to pursue education elsewhere.”
The child, referred to as “AK” in court documents, was allegedly first sexually harassed and discriminated against by Patrick Naughton, a gym teacher at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, in October 2023, according to the complaint.
Naughton is still listed as a teacher at the middle school, as well as at Lawrence High School, on the school district’s staff directory.
Jake Potter, executive director of communications for the school district, said the district does not comment on pending litigation.
Naughton, who is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to The Star’s request for comment.
Alan Rupe, an attorney representing the school district, said in a filed response to the father’s complaint that the district denies that AK’s complaints rose “to the level of a Title IX complaint or violation.”
In an email to The Star Monday, Rupe said anyone employed by the school district will not discuss the case “with the press or on social media,” citing pending litigation.
Anything the district or its employees has to say, he said, will be said in court.
District fails to investigate sexual harassment claim
AK reported the alleged sexual harassment incident to School Resource Officer Dan Affalter Jr. sometime in October 2023, the court document said, during which she told him Naughton had inappropriately touched her and other students on their lower backs and buttocks, and stared at their chests and buttocks.
According to the suit’s complaint document, the school district did not investigate AK’s complaint, report the incident to the school’s Title IX coordinator, offer the student support or alert her family that she had made the report.
Additionally, Naughton was not “investigated, removed from his position, or otherwise disciplined” for the complaint, the document said.
According to the Lawrence Public Schools website, all staff members, which include school resource officers, are required to report sexual harassment and discrimination under Title IX when that staff members had “actual knowledge” of an allegation.
“Actual knowledge,” the website says, is met when a staff member witnesses conduct firsthand, hears about it from the victim “or anyone else,” or if they receive a written report of alleged misconduct.
“Essentially, every employee is now a mandated reporter when actual knowledge of sexual harassment is obtained or sexual misconduct occurs,” the website said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to stop, prevent, and remedy the sexual harassment behaviors from continuing, once we become aware of this actual knowledge.”
The alleged incident wasn’t the last involving Naughton that AK allegedly reported to the school district.
Staff dismisses second complaint made by student
On Feb. 2, 2024, AK’s father received a voicemail from Liberty Memorial Central Middle School assistant principal Phillip Mitchell, who stated that a staff member reported Naughton had sexually harassed AK, the complaint said.
According to the court document, Mitchell said AK was taken to his office, where she was questioned about the harassment and asked to write her account of the incident. In the voicemail, Mitchell “invited” AK’s father to “discuss the matter with him.”
AK’s father “immediately” went to the school, where he was unable to find Mitchell, the complaint said. He pulled his daughter out of school, after which she told him for the first time about the initial complaint she made in 2023.
The man called the Lawrence Police Department, and officers responded to the school, where “tensions rose,” resulting in AK’s father receiving a criminal trespass warning, the document said.
Later that afternoon, the father went to the school’s district offices, where he filed a Title IX complaint, which he never received a follow-up on, the document said.
The following week, the document said, Affalter, the school resource officer, and principal Dr. Jennifer Schmitt both interviewed AK about the incident.
The document claims the school district decided AK’s complaints “did not constitute discrimination on the basis of sex,” and did not report the incident to the Title IX coordinator, nor did it offer the middle schooler “any supportive measures.”
School threatens legal action after social media post
After he was issued a no trespass warning, AK’s father took to the district’s Facebook page, where he left a comment regarding his daughter’s complaints, the document said.
The district allegedly replied, “This information is false. There have been no such allegations made,” the document said.
Later that day, the man posted in a Facebook group for the middle school’s parents, asking, “What would be done about the inappropriate touching by staff,” according to the complaint.
Again, the district responded, saying, “The sharing of false information is being forwarded to legal counsel for investigation of defamation,” the document said.
On Feb. 10, 2024, the middle school sent an email to families, which said allegations about a staff member inappropriately touching a student were being spread on social media.
“There have been no such allegations made at our school,” the email allegedly read.
The email said an investigation had been conducted in regard to the alleged incident, but the school determined “there is no safety issue.”
Several months later, through his legal counsel, AK’s father submitted a Kansas Open Records Act request to the middle school and school district, the document said.
The district reportedly failed to respond to the request, and the middle school responded with records of AK’s grades, attendance and behavior, as well as a copy of the district’s email response to the father’s social media posts and two written statements from staff regarding his conduct at the school, the document said.
District allegedly admits it didn’t follow investigation procedures
On April 4, 2025, AK’s father met with Lawrence Public Schools then-Title IX coordinator Ron May, incoming Title IX coordinator Kevin Harrell and Superintendent Larry Engelbrick, the complaint said.
During the meeting, the document said, May allegedly told the man the district “had dropped the ball” regarding AK’s complaints, and that “proper procedures were not followed.”
According to the complaint, May allegedly said the father could file another Title IX complaint. Months later, AK’s father requested the district complete an investigation into AK’s complaints, which the district dismissed.
In a response to the second complaint, the district allegedly acknowledged it never notified its Title IX coordinator or followed proper investigation procedures, according to the complaint. But, the second Title IX complaint was dismissed because it was “untimely” and the teacher’s reported conduct “did not meet the definition of sexual harassment.”
On Nov. 14, 2025, AK’s father appealed the district’s dismissal of the Title IX complaint, which the district had not responded to as of the date of the lawsuit’s filing.
Affalter, Mitchell, Schmitt, May and Harrell did not respond to The Star’s request for comment. The five individuals are not listed as defendants in the suit, but are listed by name in court documents.
An attorney for AK’s father did not respond to The Star’s request for comment.
