Former Bradenton student sues school for alleged teacher abuse

A former Bradenton student has filed a lawsuit against his school over allegations that a former teacher sexually abused him on four separate occasions.

A.R. attended the Broach School, a K-12 private Christian school for special needs students at 2615 St. W. The school notified Bradenton Police in April 2019 about an inappropriate relationship between teacher Kassandra Moore, 34, and a 15-year-old student, identified in court papers only as A.R. The former student is suing Children's Education Services, the school's parent company, for not ensuring his safety, care and wellbeing while he was a student.

Moore allegedly sexually abused A.R. on four separate occasions and sent him sexually graphic images in March 2019, court documents stated. After the abuse, the now 18-year-old spent a year and a half without leaving his bedroom. He blamed himself and even attempted suicide, his legal counsel Horowitz Law wrote in a press release.

The complaint said that the school committed negligence by not having the proper policies and procedures in place to protect students from the risk of molestation and Moore's "red-flag behavior."

Moore was arrested in June 2019 and charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of transmission of harmful material to a minor.

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In March, Moore pleaded guilty to four counts of felony sexual battery upon a person 12 or older but less than 18 by a person in familial/custodial authority and one count of transmission of material harmful to minors.

In May, she was sentenced to 20 years in Florida state prison and was designated as a sexual offender.

Prior to and during the period Moore was alleged to have sexually molested A.R., the Broach School knew Moore was unfit for duties assigned, knew she demonstrated a risk for sexual misconduct, knew she was physically inappropriate with the plaintiff and posed a risk, the civil complaint said.

"Despite such actual or constructive knowledge, the Broach School hired and retained Kassandra Moore, failed to exercise adequate supervision of Kassandra Moore, and/or failed to investigate suspicious behavior, failed to implement appropriate protection for A.R., and otherwise placed plaintiff in a vulnerable position with Kassandra Moore," the complaint said.

President of Children's Educational Services Rich Wead said that when the organization was notified of the allegations, they immediately reported them to authorities and terminated Moore. He said that all employees are thoroughly vetted and complete a background screening prior to employment.

"We took the allegations very seriously and did everything possible to facilitate the investigation," Wead said in an email. "The health and safety of our students, as well as the trust of our community, remains the highest priority of all our schools."

A.R. enrolled in the school for 7th grade for the 2016-2017 school year. Moore would be his teacher for 7th, 8th and 9th grades.

The complaint said Moore would openly flirt with male students during school hours, and on more than one occasion, she would sit on A.R.'s desk and stroke his arms in front of other students in the class, the complaint said. Moore told a fellow teacher that students had been circulating modeling photos of her wearing lingerie, the complaint said.

"It was open and obvious that her former and current male students viewed Kassandra Moore as a sexual figure, and she would regularly develop special 'friendships' and relationships with few boundaries with her minor male students, including A.R.," the complaint said.

During March 2019, Moore's inappropriate behavior toward A.R. began to escalate, the complaint said. They would message each other on Instagram throughout the school day.

The messages began with discussing schoolwork, studying techniques and mentoring, but they progressed to become more flirtatious overtime after initiation from Moore, the complaint said.

Moore and A.R. began exchanging messages of graphic sexual nature and began arranging to meet for sexual intercourse, which they had four separate times in March 2019.

A.R. ended the sexual contact with Moore shortly after, prompting retaliation in the classroom from Moore in the form of a failing grade, the complaint said.

Another male student in the class, J.K., reported the sexual contact to the principal around April 10, 2019. The principal then notified the Bradenton Police Department.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Bradenton school faces lawsuit for not preventing sexual abuse