A Texas school district is facing a storm of protest and demands for answers following a disturbing incident in which a 6-year-old girl was allegedly forced by classmates to perform a sex act while they recorded it on an iPad, despite a teacher being present in the classroom.
Parents and community members rallied outside the administrative office of Plainview Independent School District (ISD) on Monday, expressing their anger over the appalling situation at Plainview South Elementary School, as reported by the Plainview Herald.
As many as 30 protesters gathered throughout the day, with another demonstration planned for Friday at 6 p.m. at a local park.
The harrowing incident has left parents and community members shaken, with one parent remarking, “A 6-year-old was exposed to things that even adults would have a hard time overcoming.”
“This is trauma at its worst, and it is a trickle-down effect because it affects everyone around them,” the parent continued.
The protest began after the school district called the parents of the first-grade girl to inform them of the alleged April 19 event. The child subsequently revealed to her family that another student had pressured her into performing the sex act.
Heather Gonzales, a cousin of the young girl, told local NBC affiliate KCBD that the family had noticed an abrupt change in the child’s behavior, including signs of distress and complaints of stomach pain.
The girl later disclosed that a male classmate had exposed himself to her in the lunch line and that she had been forced under a desk to perform a sex act while another student filmed the incident on a district-issued iPad.
“She said she was hitting him with the poetry book,” said Gonzales, which the video corroborates. The girl reported that the assault did not stop “until they let me go.”
Gonzales expressed frustration with the school district’s lack of transparency, stating, “Everything was ‘no comment, I cannot tell you, no comment.'”
She questioned why the alleged perpetrators were still in the same classroom as her cousin, adding that the child is “still at a desk with all boys, having to see her abusers every day.”
The students involved have since been moved to separate classrooms.
Plainview ISD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez confirmed that the school had reported the incident to Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) and that a state investigator had arrived the following week to work with local law enforcement.
Sanchez cited the need for confidentiality in the ongoing investigation as the reason for the limited information provided by the district.
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The district released a statement explaining that due to the involvement of minors, it must exercise caution in the information it shares.
The statement also noted that the alleged incident occurred outside the teacher’s line of sight while she was attending to other students.
Inappropriate content was discovered on a student’s iPad the following day, leading the teacher to be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Parents at the Monday protest claimed that this incident is not an isolated one, with multiple mothers alleging that similar events have occurred throughout the year without any action taken.
One parent described the physical and emotional abuse their daughter experienced for not participating in “these little boys’ sick games.”
Another parent expressed concern about the environment in which their children are being educated, saying, “You can’t have your kids in a classroom like that.”
They added that despite parental efforts to monitor and control what children are exposed to, incidents like this demonstrate that schools are failing to protect their students from inappropriate content and what amounts to sexual assault, even at the first grade level.
A spokesperson for Plainview ISD stated that CPS is continuing its investigation and that the district is cooperating with both CPS and law enforcement. However, they were unable to provide further details due to the ongoing investigation.