A Prairie Park Elementary School parent has requested an external audit, broader transparency and expanded parent support from the district after allegations of sexual assault by a former school speech pathologist came to light.

Mark Gridley, who worked as a speech language pathologist at Prairie Park Elementary School since 2021, has been charged with a sex crime against a child at the school. Lawrence police on Feb. 27 announced that they believe there were eight alleged victims, all between the ages of 6 and 11.

Cynthia Courtney said she’s a parent of two students at Prairie Park and also a family friend of a student at the school who reported their assault. She spoke during public comment time at the school board meeting Monday, sharing requests on behalf of a community of parents.

“School and district officials have told us three things over and over again,” Courtney said. “First, we’ve heard, ‘Trust us.’ We want to. We’re glad the district has its own child mental health and sexual violence experts, but please know that right now it feels impossible to know who to trust.”

The family of one of the alleged victims has filed a civil lawsuit against the district for the pain and mental anguish the child suffered.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift shared some comments about student safety during her report to the board on Monday. She said the district is continuing an internal review of its safety protocols, including ensuring all student services take place in clearly visible areas.

One effort underway is to ensure that every area of buildings have visual sight lines from hallways “and that there are no areas where an adult and a child would ever be alone in a private area together,” Swift said. She also said the district completes required fingerprinting and background checks for all new employees.

Courtney urged the district to hire an external crisis team, recommending RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), which has experts and has conducted audits at schools, as an option.

She said external assessments and further support could avert conflicts of interest and better build trust with the community. They could also give staff more time to focus on their own grief, she said.

Courtney said although she understands the integrity of the police investigation must be kept, parents are frustrated with the district’s “we can’t talk about that” responses.

“Please meet or adjust promises about how the district will communicate updates in the investigation and systemic policy changes,” Courtney said. “Facilitate further empathic communication between Prairie Park families and our school leadership, and encourage a community healing process.”

The district immediately relieved Gridley of his duties after learning of the allegations, Swift told families. As part of the board’s consent agenda on Monday, members unanimously approved a final resolution to terminate Gridley’s contract.

Police have asked parents and guardians to talk to their children, recommending nonintrusive, basic questions to start if they believed their children had interactions with Gridley. Swift had sent families guidance on that by the Children’s Advocacy Center of Douglas County as well as prevention resources, but Courtney said more information on dealing with secondary trauma in students, staff and families would be helpful.

“The list of suggested resources was overwhelming, not just in amount, but especially with its implication that parents need to deeply understand the topic and child development before bringing this up,” Courtney said. “The included handout also included an advertisement, which was in bad taste.”

During her commentary Monday, board President Kelly Jones said the board is open to more conversations with the school community.

“I do want to extend my gratitude to the Child Advocacy Center, the Lawrence Police Department, Dr. Swift and the crisis team, along with the several opportunities I’ve had for conversations with family from the Prairie Park community to understand more what it is and how we can, as a board, assist and respond to the horrific events that you all are going through as parents and as school community, as our educators and teachers are as well with you,” she said.

Board Vice President GR Gordon-Ross said he shared Jones’ sentiments, and said he understands that “trust is earned” and encouraged folks to contact the board with their needs.

Families can contact the Children’s Advocacy Center for resources, information and help, or call 785-830-7430 to make a report to LPD.

Defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless they are convicted.

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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