Teacher Toe-Licking Video Sparks School Controversy
MOORESVILLE, Ind. -- A battle is brewing between some parents and the Mooresville Consolidated School Corp. over a teacher some feel is involved too intimately with children.
A 41-second cell phone video shows a junior varsity softball player licking the toes of teacher Jody Monaghan, a former softball coach, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.
"There were 14-year-olds on that bus. I know several of them. I've known them since they were little girls," said parent Lenny Adair. "It's inappropriate at best."
Superintendent Curt Freeman was aware of another incident in which Monaghan sent inappropriate text messages to some students.
In both cases, Freeman said Monaghan used poor judgment, but Monaghan now coaches the girl's swim team.
Parents said Monaghan has been engaging in inappropriate contact with children for years.
Sheila Reecer's daughter said some of the behavior she had witnessed between Monaghan and her teammates happened to her, too.
"She came home and she was real upset and she goes, 'Mom, I need to talk to you about something that happened during softball,'" Reecer said. "She said she had walked past him in the dugout a couple of times, he would just rub his hand across her stomach."
Rob Allen said incidents reached beyond the softball field and that Monaghan disciplined his daughter in a classroom in front of her classmates.
"He bent her over his lap and spanked her, and I didn't find this out until later on down the road," Allen said.
Sheila Helton said she pulled her 15-year-old daughter off the softball team after Monaghan began sending her text messages she felt were inappropriate.
"She came to me one day and said, 'Mom, I think my coach is weird,'" Helton said. "11:30, 12 o'clock at night, some of the messages were, 'What are you doing? I'm bored.'"
Adair said that Monaghan began texting his daughter before he put a stop to it.
"I don't allow no man … I'm a grown man. I don't text kids," he said. "What do you text a kid for when you're a grown man?"
Helton said contact with her daughter went beyond texting and got uncomfortably physical after Monaghan allegedly told her daughter that she didn't need her knee wrapped, but rubbed.
"She said he looked at her and said, 'How does it make you feel when I rub your leg?'" Helton said. "She said, 'That freaked me out, mom.'"
The school corporation refused to respond to 6News' inquiries about Monaghan.
"Please tell me you're not recording me right now," said Susan Haynes, the school's community relations coordinator, when asked if Freeman would comment.
Freeman backed out of a scheduled interview and issued a statement that said, in part, that students were interviewed and didn't feel threatened and that no laws were broken.
"If they're not going to do anything about this, I'm not going to have my daughter trapped in a dugout somewhere with this man," Reecer said.
"You're messing with my baby … but me getting in trouble wasn't going to do her any good," Allen said.
While Monaghan no longer coaches softball, his new position as swim coach gives some parents pause.
"So they go from softball uniforms to girls in bathing suits. Go figure that, and I don't like it," Adair said.
Freeman and Monaghan refused repeated requests to be interviewed for this story.
LINK TO VIDEO
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/21717422/detail.html
April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008