An appellate court ruling in a pre-K student’s sex abuse lawsuit against Lorena ISD could impact the success of “qualified immunity” claims used by Texas school district officials to avoid responsibility for kids being physically harmed on campus.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case, which has caused a scandal within Lorena Independent School District.
Parents filed a civil rights lawsuit against the district and Lorena Primary School Principal April Jewell in 2023 after their 5-year-old daughter was sexually abused by her pre-K teacher while at school.
The parents claim Jewell “turned a blind eye” to months of warnings from multiple school employees about inappropriate behavior by Nicolas Crenshaw, an uncertified long-term substitute teacher, toward two of his female students.
Crenshaw pleaded guilty in 2023 to multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault of a young child and other sex crimes against the students and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The district and Jewell sought to dismiss the parents’ lawsuit, with Jewell claiming qualified immunity—which protects government officials from liability for constitutional violations if they acted “in good faith.”
In 2024, a federal district court judge denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed.
Jewell appealed the district court’s ruling.
During Monday’s oral arguments, Jewell’s attorney argued that the plaintiffs had failed to make their case that the teacher’s behavior—as observed by or made known to the principal—was concerning enough to warrant action to investigate or remove the teacher.
“I would suggest to this court that these things go on in every pre-school in this country,” defense attorney Andrea Mooney told the judges.
Monica Beck, the attorney representing the victim’s parents, argued that Jewell not only knew about and ignored Crenshaw’s inappropriate behavior, but also enabled further harm by placing the substitute teacher alone in a classroom with half of the pre-K students, including his victim, who is identified as Jane Doe in court documents to protect her privacy.
Beck said Jewell had notice in the form of verbal complaints from school employees and photographs showing the teacher “lying with Jane under a blanket at nap time, placing her on his lap, having her wear his clothing, and doting on her.”
Beck said Jewell’s action and inaction met the legal liability standards of “deliberate indifference” and “shocking the conscience.”
Judges questioned Mooney’s assertion that the parents did not claim Jewell knew about photos documenting the teacher’s sexual behavior, calling it “a heroic interpretation” and noting the parents’ complaint pleads that Jewell was “willfully blind” in refusing to “have any curiosity about the photographs” of the teacher and student together.
Mooney closed by arguing that the court does not have “two standards” for assessing whether behavior with a student is sexual depending on the sex of the teacher.
If you could just picture me as a preschool teacher, and I’m holding a child’s hand and I’m walking them down the hallway, or I’m putting them on my knee to read a story, or I’m giving them my sweatshirt … None of that would lead anyone to plainly believe that that was sexual abuse.
“In hindsight, of course, we know that was the case, and it’s horrible, but that was not what Mrs. Jewell was aware of at the time,” Mooney concluded.
Lorena mom Jessica Montez called Mooney’s final statement “a slap in the face to the victims and everyone involved.”
“Jewell’s attorney was condescending to the judges,” Montez posted on social media. “You can’t equate a woman walking down a hallway holding a child’s hand with what this man did.”
Another parent, Bobbie Ann Phillips, said she felt “sick” listening to the arguments made by Jewell’s defense attorney.
“I was listening as it was happening and actually gasped out loud in disbelief,” Phillips posted. “The repeated warning signs weren’t enough?”
She said that after listening a few more times, she formed more questions:
Is it not deliberate indifference to not check in on that classroom, unannounced, to see things for herself? I’d be curious to learn if she ever did do so.
Is it not deliberate indifference to not have an inkling, a curiosity, a desire to see the “alleged” photo(s) for herself so she could see what was making her staff uncomfortable, to see if perhaps something could/should be done?
“I really want to know why she never wanted to physically see what her staff were saying they saw,” wrote Phillips.
“It ALL shocks the conscience,” parent advocacy group Texas Education 911 posted following the court hearing, adding that when parents spoke out at Lorena ISD school board meetings, district employees not only came to the defense of Jewell but could be heard snickering in the audience at the parents.
A similar sex abuse case out of Prosper ISD is also before the Fifth Circuit.
In 2022, parents of two elementary school girls who were sexually molested by a bus driver for months sued Prosper ISD, Superintendent Holly Ferguson, and the district’s then-Transportation Director Annamarie Hamrick (who took the same position in Garland ISD under the name Anna Banner after the driver was arrested but before the scandal became public).
Following failed motions to dismiss based on claims of qualified immunity, Ferguson and Hamrick appealed but did not request oral arguments.
Decisions in both cases are expected to take several weeks.
Another civil rights lawsuit was filed last August by parents of a sex abuse victim in Perryton ISD.
An investigation by Texas Education 911 revealed that in just the past few years, thousands of Texas teachers have been reported to the Texas Education Agency for physical and sexual abuse of students.