Student's family suing Lawrence School District after alleged sex abuse
Monsees & Mayer, P.C., a Kansas City-based firm, announced Friday that a lawsuit has been filed in Douglas County District Court against the Lawrence School District on behalf of a 6-year-old student and her family.
Kansas City Manager Brian Platt suspended after whistleblower lawsuit
The lawsuit states that while the student was attending Prairie Park Elementary School, she was sexually abused by Mark Gridley, who was then a speech pathologist employed by the district.
Gridley, 61, is facing criminal charges, including one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, in relation to the incident. He is currently being held in the Douglas County jail with bond set at $1.5 million. FOX4 has reached out to an attorney representing Gridley in the criminal case to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that sometime from Feb. 6-7, Gridley 'used his position of trust and authority to isolate, groom, and/or sexually abuse students under the guise of speech therapy.' It claims that the school district knew or had reason to know that Gridley 'engaged in acts of misconduct consistent with a dangerous propensity for unwanted or abusive contact' with children but that the district failed to take action and continued to allow him to work at the school.
In an email Friday, the school district said it was unable to comment.
The lawsuit asks for a jury trial to conducted and requests compensatory damages in excess of $75,000.
'Our clients are experiencing every parent's worst nightmare when they drop their kids off at school,' Reed Martens, the family's attorney, said in a statement Friday. 'The parents are seeking justice for their daughter in hopes that something like this will never happen.'
A court date has not yet been set in the civil case.
The Lawrence Police Department, the lead investigating agency in the criminal case, said last week that it was requesting additional charges to be filed against Gridley, and stated that there has been a total of eight possible victims identified in the case. As of Friday, additional charges have not been announced by the district attorney's office.
Gridley's next court date in the criminal case is March 26.
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