In response to growing public pressure, Lorena ISD Superintendent Joe Kucera emailed parents in the school district a message claiming to address the community’s concerns about the sexual abuse of pre-K students by an uncertified substitute teacher and district officials’ actions surrounding the abuse.
The August 7 email included a letter to Evelyn Brooks, a member of the State Board of Education, who had requested information about allegations in a lawsuit filed by parents of one of the teacher’s victims—a then 5-year-old girl identified in court documents as Jane Doe.
Concerned parents in the community still have questions.
The Superintendent’s letter contains 21 pages, yet no new information. There’s no acknowledgment of the issues the community is worried about. There are plenty of explanations of terms: ”guilty,” “civil lawsuit,” “claims,” and “facts.”
If I were on the school board, here’s what I would do now:
- Ask the Superintendent to schedule a town hall meeting for the community immediately.
- Get a second board member to agree to call an emergency school board meeting.
- Request the Superintendent put Principal April Jewell on leave.
- If the Superintendent refuses, get the votes to remove the Superintendent.
- Request a third-party investigator to ensure the situation is being handled appropriately.
Some thoughts about the Superintendent’s message:
The “claims” are worded in a way that makes it seem like we are trying to spread inaccurate information and that we are just being unreasonable.
It also lists “claims” from the lawsuit and then responds with “facts.” Surely it should respond with “District’s claims,” since their version has not been proved in court.
FACT: Just because the district says it, doesn’t mean it is true.
Regarding the “Relevant Timeline,” it begins much earlier than May 8, 2021.
We know from another parent and information contained in the lawsuit that complaints were made to April Jewell as early as October 2020 about pre-K teacher Nicolas Crenshaw. If the district does not know of these complaints, we can only assume it is because Mrs. Jewell did not share them with Dr. Kucera or the board.
No explanation is given on how an uncertified substitute was left alone with non-verbal special education students.
The investigation completed by the Texas Education Agency in 2021 did not look into April Jewell and therefore could not have “cleared” her.
The judge did say in his own words, “This lack of executive action from Jewell as a principal of an elementary school, whose job it is to ensure the education, safety, and health of her students, shocks the conscience.”
The school still has not conducted a Title IX investigation.
Jewell and the District can be found “liable” in the civil case. It is rare for anyone to be charged with failing to report because it is a misdemeanor, and costly and time-consuming for DAs to prosecute.
Crenshaw also substituted at the Middle School—though either school staff have trouble getting dates correct [a May 2021 email attached to Kucera’s message lists dates in September and October 2021] or he was arrested and the school still allowed him to come back to sub. If they just got the dates wrong, why didn’t they send a corrected email?
Below is a timeline that includes all relevant dates. Here are links to the referenced attachments:
Attachment AA
Attachment E
Attachment F
Attachment G
Attachment H
This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.
Previous coverage of the Lorena ISD sex abuse scandal and lawsuit:
- Judge Rejects Immunity Claim of Lorena ISD Principal Who Ignored Teacher’s Sexual Abuse of 5-year-old Student
- Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Lorena ISD Moves Forward
- Lorena Parents Speak About Sex Abuse Scandal at School Board Meeting
- Lorena ISD Breaks Silence on Sex Abuse Lawsuit as School District Scandal Spills Into City Business
- New Victim Revealed in Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Lorena ISD
- Lorena Parents Ask State Board to Suspend School Admins Over Sex Abuse Scandal
- Sex Abuse Victim’s Mom Scorches Lorena ISD School Board
