Top administrators at Santa Fe High School remain on paid administrative leave following a lawsuit filed in late October that claims their failure to act resulted in the sexual harassment of a student by the school’s baseball coach.
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 30 by attorney Bobi J. Frank on behalf of the parent of the student, accuses the city of Alachua and the Alachua County School Board of negligence. The administrators named in the lawsuit, who are not listed as defendants in the case, include former SFHS Principal Tim Wright, who retired over the summer, Assistant Principal Mac Rendek and Athletic Director Michele Faulk.
Both Rendek and Faulk have been on leave since Nov. 1, according to Alachua County Public Schools spokesperson Jackie Johnson. The school’s baseball coach, Travis Yeckring, who also serves as a media specialist, has been on leave since March 18.
According to the lawsuit, the student, who was a sophomore at the time, initially reported to Rendek that Yeckring “intentionally exposed” her to an “explicit image of himself” on his cellphone. About a week later, she said, Yeckring stopped her in the hallway and made “sexually charged statements” to her.
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According to the lawsuit, the victim said Rendek responded by saying, “This is not the first time I have heard this type of thing about Yeckring.”
The girl’s parents were never notified about the incidents by the School Board or the city of Alachua, the lawsuit says.
About one or two weeks later, the victim said she arrived at class to find that Yeckring was serving as her substitute teacher. “Upset, fearful and panic stricken,” she immediately left class and called her mother, who told her to speak to the principal.
According to the lawsuit, when Wright was informed of the allegation, he said, “We have had some issues in the past like this with Yeckring. This is not the first time I have heard this.” Faulk, the athletic director, then entered the room where she was told about the allegations.
The lawsuit says a pre-litigation investigation revealed that prior to Yeckring’s interactions with the victim, the School Board and the school’s resource officer had received complaints from “numerous children” regarding “sexual misconduct” by Yeckring.
Yeckring’s personnel file with the school district, however, contains no record of any complaints or investigations of sexual harassment, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit contends that at least one school resource officer, employed by the city of Alachua, knew or should have known of the complaints, and did nothing. It also says that the school district did not “suspend, investigate, dismiss, punish nor properly supervise Yeckring” after the reported incidents, leaving the victim “in a foreseeable zone of risk.”
The lawsuit says the victim, who is now a senior, has been unable to return to campus “due to the overwhelming psychological and emotional trauma she endures.” The plaintiff has asked for a jury trial with a claim in excess of $50,000.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Lawsuit claims ACPS, Alachua negligent in sexual harassment case