Sarasota School District investigating student battery at Fruitville Elementary

Steven Walker, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Updated ·2 min read
This photo shows children and families strolling toward the front entrance of Fruitville Elementary on the first day of school in August 2022. The Sarasota County School District is conducting a report of an alleged sexual battery of three students at the school.
This photo shows children and families strolling toward the front entrance of Fruitville Elementary on the first day of school in August 2022. The Sarasota County School District is conducting a report of an alleged sexual battery of three students at the school.

An investigation by the Sarasota County Schools Police Department in collaboration with the Department of Children and Family Services has found that an incident at Fruitville Elementary was simple battery instead of sexual battery, School District spokesperson Craig Maniglia said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The statement said officials had "determined that the alleged crime of Sexual Battery at Fruitville Elementary was unfounded." The investigation is "ongoing," the statement said.

No further information was provided.

The district's statement followed Herald-Tribune reporting that the district was investigating an alleged sexual battery incident at Fruitville Elementary School in which a student reportedly grabbed at least three other students' genitals on Tuesday, the parent of one of the students said in a phone interview. The Herald-Tribune is not identifying the parent so as not to identify the underage victim.

The parent posted to an online forum Thursday seeking advice on how to proceed. The parent expressed concern that the student allegedly involved in the incident was still attending Fruitville, saying "the principal nor officer involved seems to know what is ‘enough’ to have a child removed from a school...."

The parent said in a phone interview the family filed a complaint with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. The Herald-Tribune requested the filed complaint and other documents from the case, but the Sheriff's Office has not yet responded.

The parent expressed frustration with the school's handling of the incident, saying school officials didn't provide notification of what happened until the end of the day at student pick-up.

The parent also said it took 23 phone calls to learn whether there was an open investigation into the incident.

"Parents should not have to carry this heavy burden and this heavy of a weight when all they need to be making sure of is that their child is okay after an incident like this," the parent said. "We should be able to rely on the school system to do the right thing."

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Schools investigating student battery at elementary