Suit: JCPS worker molested special-needs student

The mother of a Central High School student with special needs has sued Jefferson County Public Schools, alleging a teacher's aide molested her son.

The suit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court on Friday, alleges instructional assistant John Streicher touched the student's genitals in a sexual manner while assisting him in the bathroom on Aug. 31.

The suit says the student, identified only as I.T., is a 21-year-old with Asperger's syndrome, autism and mental retardation. It alleges the incident was witnessed by another student who reported it to a special-needs teacher at the school.

Lawsuits present only one side of the story.

More JCPS coverage

►JCPS educator a Ky. Teacher of Year semifinalist
►Valley High student arrested after phone threat
►District proposes axing Maupin's School of Innovation

A JCPS spokeswoman declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

Attempts to contact Streicher were not immediately successful Monday.

Besides Streicher, the suit, filed by attorney Brandon Lawrence, names the Jefferson County Board of Education, Superintendent Donna Hargens and Central High principal Raymond Green as defendants.

The suit says the defendants were negligent and should have prevented Streicher's actions. It requests a trial by jury and damages in excess of $5,000. 

Lawrence said in an interview Monday that JCPS has avoided correspondence with his client’s family. He said it appears the school district also failed to interview Streicher about the alleged incident.

“I’ve got a letter that says they never interviewed him,” Lawrence said. “It looks like they’re trying to protect the institution.”

JCPS suspended Streicher indefinitely without pay in September over allegations of "inappropriate touching/toileting procedures." He resigned Jan. 27.

A February 2017 memo summarizing a JCPS internal investigation, provided to the Courier-Journal by Lawrence, notes that JCPS also closed its investigation as unsubstantiated due to Streicher "resigning before the case could be properly investigated."

That memo says a JCPS investigator — who is listed in the memo as Gwendy Luckett, a clerk, even though the investigator was actually Stephanie Williams, JCPS said Monday — interviewed one of the students involved in September. The memo said the student drew "a line between the legs of (a) stick man" to show where Streicher had allegedly touched him.

The investigator then apparently canceled a planned interview with Streicher in September. The memo said that the investigator concluded that since the student "drew a line between the stick man's legs, Mr. Streicher must have touched him there."

The memo said the JCPS investigators tried to reach out to Streicher again in January, to no avail. JCPS spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said the delay in trying to interview Streicher was to allow other agencies, including Child Protective Services, to work on their investigations into the alleged incident.

More headlines

►Kings of Leon returning to Yum Center Oct. 21
►Ex-cop Betts asks for dismissal of sex-abuse suit
►'Happy Days' star Erin Moran likely died of cancer

A December 2016 letter from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which was also provided by Lawrence, said that the cabinet had determined, based on information received in an investigation, that allegations of child abuse or neglect were unsubstantiated against Streicher.

Streicher had been with the school district since 2004, according to JCPS employment records. He's been a special needs instructional assistant at schools including Central, Waggener and Ballard high schools, Kammerer Middle and Chancey Elementary. He also worked for a time as a custodian at Westport Middle, according to his personnel file.

In 2014, he requested to be reassigned from custodian back to special needs instructional assistant, saying in the paperwork that "as I've worked with kids with special needs over the past 10 years, I am very anxious to return as an ECE (exceptional child education) instructional assistant. I truly believe that this is my calling: to make a difference in their lives."

Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at 502-582-4241. Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475.

►ON THE GO?Download the CJ app for iPhone, Android and iPad
►FOLLOW US:Watch the latest featured video on YouTube