Elementary substitute teacher looked up girls’ skirts, school mom says

Kansas City, MO — A Kansas City mother says a teacher at a local school was looking up girls’ skirts.

The mother said it happened at last week at Troost Elementary, located at East 59th Street and Tracy Avenue, with a substitute gym teacher. She’s upset the school waited a day to alert her.

“One of the parents told me that all the little girls were crying. They were all scared. They didn’t know what to do,” Fallon Rodgers said.

Rodgers says her 9-year-old daughter kept quiet with her until the school counselor called Friday and suggested she ask her daughter what happened with the substitute gym teacher the day before.

“He told the kids ‘You all might not like this, but I’m going to close the door,’” she said.

Troost Elementary doesn’t have special uniforms for gym class. Rodgers’ daughter and several of the other girls were wearing skirts and were ordered, she says, to do sit-ups.

“And he looked up under their skirts, and he also was rubbing my daughter’s back, she said, he was talking to her and as he was rubbing her back, he was going down to her buttocks,” Rodgers said.

The school district spokesman confirmed that they did receive an allegation of inappropriate behavior from a “responsible adult” at the school that day. He wouldn’t give the adult’s position. The spokesman said the school principal hotlined the state and notified administration.

The district is now doing an internal investigation along with the state’s investigation. But Rodgers is still upset that she wasn’t able to console her daughter sooner.

“I feel like I could have been there for my daughter, to be her backbone and support so she wasn’t as scared,” the mother said.

Rodgers said the teacher hasn’t been back to Troost, but she plans to meet with school board members on Wednesday about it.

It’s not clear if the state is taking any action to prevent that teacher from subbing in other districts until the investigation is complete.

As for notifying parents, the district says they handle reports like this “on a case-by-case basis.” They are taking steps to ensure the children’s safety, while also ensuring that everyone involved gets due process.