A Texas school canceled classes on Monday after protests broke out alleging that the district wasn’t being forthcoming with information about a 6-year-old student who was allegedly forced to perform a sexual act in their classroom last month.
The incident is alleged to have happened at South Elementary School in the Plainview Independent School District. The school district released a statement saying classes were canceled due “to threats of violence to teachers and staff at South Elementary.”
“As we continue to receive threats and as there was a mass shooting in Allen Texas, PISD will cancel school Monday throughout the district in an abundance of caution,” the district website said Sunday.
The district also addressed the situation, saying that the “matter has been turned over” to the local authorities in Plainview and Hale County.
“Due to misinformation regarding a matter under investigation, we continue to receive threats of violence that are extremely concerning,” PISD said in a statement. “Our police chief has submitted all of the screenshots to the FBI, DPS, and other relevant law enforcement agencies.”
Last week, the district released its initial statement on the incident, which was caught on video using a school iPad and involved a group of 6-year-olds participating in “inappropriate” behavior, on Wednesday, April 19.
The statement says that the incident was recorded on an “electronic device” that was “password protected” and took place “away from the full vision” of the teacher in the classroom, who was working with a group of students.
The device was eventually unlocked, and the video capturing the act was discovered.
After Child Protective Services was notified, an investigation into what happened was launched. The findings from the investigation were then shared with school and district administrators. The district said in its statement that the parents/guardians with students involved were notified.
PISD also shared that the teacher was “placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.”
However, parents and guardians are disputing the district’s statement, saying they were never notified or contacted after the incident. One of those with a student involved was Heather Gonzales, who shared with EverythingLubbock.com that they were being kept in the dark.
Gonzales, who claims her 6-year-old cousin was a victim of sexual harassment on two separate occasions, said parents were only given details about what happened after a protest occurred outside the district’s administrative building.
While speaking with KCBD, Gonzales shared that the young girl at the center of the incident, her cousin, had started to act strange at home. After asking her what was going on, the 6-year-old told her that a boy had exposed himself to her in the school lunch line.
But to make matters worse, Gonzales says this was the second time her cousin had experienced sexual harassment at South Elementary.
The girl claimed that the first time happened in class when a student pulled her under a desk and forced her to perform sexual acts more than a week before, KCBD reported.
While under the desk, the girl said that another student recorded the situation. According to reports, the video showed that the girl had been attempting to fight back.
“She said she was hitting him with the poetry book,” Gonzales told KCBD.
After asking her cousin how long the incident went on, she responded, “Until they let me go.”
Now classes at the elementary school have been canceled following another protest, which took place last Friday, with protesters demanding answers from the district.
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