A third victim has come forward in a lawsuit over a teacher’s sexual abuse of pre-K students at Lorena Primary School, further implicating the school’s embattled principal.
The newly discovered information was revealed in an amended complaint filed June 26 by the parents of a previously known victim identified as Jane Doe.
Jane’s parents sued Principal April Jewell and Lorena Independent School District last August, after pre-K teacher Nicolas Crenshaw pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Jane and a second victim, identified as Student A, during the 2020-21 school year.
In the amendment, the parents allege Jewell was told about Crenshaw’s earlier sexual misconduct with the third victim, identified as Student B, but failed to act, allowing the teacher to victimize Jane.
Crenshaw went to prison, but Jewell kept her job.
The lawsuit accuses Jewell and other district administrators of failing to protect the students, who were 4 and 5 years old at the time of the abuse, despite warnings about Crenshaw’s inappropriate behavior with the girls.
According to the amended complaint, “Plaintiff’s counsel recently learned that, in early October 2020, a parent whose daughter was a pre-kindergarten student at Lorena Primary School complained to Defendant Jewell and teacher Stephanie Heslep that Nicolas Crenshaw had touched and rubbed her daughter under her shirt.”
Parent B’s report pre-dates the first previously known complaints made to Defendants about Crenshaw and establishes that, in early October 2020, Defendants knew that Crenshaw was inappropriately touching a female student under her clothing, yet for the remainder of the school year they did not take meaningful action to prevent him from harming children, including Jane Doe.
“This information further substantiates Plaintiff’s claims of LISD’s deliberate indifference to the risk that Crenshaw posed of sexually abusing students and the reports that he was engaging in sexual misconduct with Jane,” the amended lawsuit argues.
The federal court in Waco that is hearing the case must agree to accept the new information.
Lorena ISD did not oppose the Does’ request to amend their complaint, but Jewell did.
Jewell argued that the amendment added allegations related to her qualified immunity claim, which the district court rejected. She appealed that decision, and proceedings pertaining to Jewell are now on hold until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on her immunity in the case.
Jane Doe’s parents filed their lawsuit in August 2023, but the court didn’t reject Jewell’s and the district’s motions to dismiss the suit until June of this year.
In April, Lorena ISD mom Jessica Montez posted a copy of the original lawsuit online, along with a petition calling on Jewell to resign. That was when many in the community first learned the details of the sexual abuse scandal.
Montez and others began sharing information about the case on social media and speaking out at school board meetings, drawing more local news coverage of the lawsuit and parents’ concerns.
The publicity prompted the district to issue a statement claiming that Lorena ISD “did not ‘look the other way’ or take any actions that made it easier for Crenshaw to commit his crimes” and will “allow the legal process to run its course.”
The publicity has also prompted a backlash against parents who have asked for accountability from school officials.
Last month, Lorena City Council rejected two district dads who applied for seats on the city’s economic development board because they had spoken publicly about how officials handled the sex abuse scandal.
Still, parents in Lorena ISD aren’t backing down.
They have created a Facebook group called Justice for Jane to share news and updates about the case.
Parents are also working with advocacy group Texas Education 911 and state lawmakers on legislation to remove school officials’ immunity from lawsuits in sexual misconduct cases.
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