HOUSTON — A former employee at an elementary school is being investigated for allegedly sexually abusing students. According to the school principal in a letter sent to parents, they’ve received several complaints.
Some parents here are telling me they found out about this at a meeting the principal held on Monday morning. They say that’s where family members of alleged victims spoke up.
Parents at Sutton Elementary are very concerned to hear that a former teacher at their school is being investigated for allegations of sexual abuse.
"It's scary to think of," said Janet Gomez, a mother of a student attending Sutton Elementary.
Another mother of three little girls tells me she is frightened to think her girls could have been in contact with this teacher. In Spanish, she said she spoke with her daughters and they don’t really understand what’s going on, but she hopes they weren’t victims.
And that seems to be the problem, in a letter sent home to parents, the school principal doesn’t give many details and parents are wondering why.
"I would really wish whoever it was at least let those parents know from that class or whoever was in contact with that teacher so that way the parents can do their own job of asking their kids to see if anything else happened and the whole truth can come out," Gomez said.
The letter says the person being investigated is no longer an employee of the district. The letter also says HISD and HISD police are conducting an investigation. So is Child Protective Services.
For the privacy of the students, HISD says it’s not able to give more info to parents.
"You been working with kids all these years and finally someone spoke up," Gomez said. "You never know what other issues could have happened."
In a statement, the school district says the following...
"HISD takes these situations very seriously, and the safety and well-being of our students and staff is always our absolute top priority. The individual resigned in July 2022, and therefore is no longer employed with the district. Due to the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) and the pending investigation, HISD will not be providing additional information at this time."
CPS says they're also investigating. Here's the statement they provided:
“Child Protective Services is working with law enforcement to investigate allegations of sexual abuse at Sutton Elementary. Once our investigation is complete, results will be sent to Sutton Elementary, Houston ISD and the Texas Education Agency.” -Melissa Lanford, DFPS spokesperson
So far, no criminal charges have been filed. But many parents want to understand why HISD and the HISD Police are taking so long to press charges since parents are telling us some victims say came forward back in October of last year.
According to the parents, this teacher was at the school for at least seven years.
Through this investigation, parents say they found out the cameras inside the school are not working properly.