One of the people protesting outside Springville High School. (PHOTO: KSL TV)
SPRINGVILLE – A Springville High School teacher is on administrative leave after accusations of bullying and sexual harassment to female students. Over 100 current and former students held a walkout around the school, demanding that he be fired.
The students who protested around the school say the teacher has been harassing girls for many years. Keira Miles graduated in 2014, and says the teacher, who isn’t being officially named, yet, mocked her for having a seizure in his classroom.
Miles says, “He didn’t realize I had a seizure, and when I came to, he was making fun of me for ‘falling asleep’ and told me I would be failed if I had fallen asleep again in class.”
She and other students are gathering statements from students who have reportedly been bullied or harassed by the teacher, and she believes there will be many statements gathered.
“We hope to have him removed from the school system. Personally, I hope that he’s charged,” she says.
Miles says she has seen social media posts from people claiming they’ve issued statements about the teacher’s behavior. However, Nebo School District Communications Manager Lana Hiskey says they’ve never received any formal complaints, and the accusations came as a complete shock to the new administrator.
Hiskey says, “He was very surprised, actually, of the social media posts.”
According to Hiskey, the district didn’t know about the harassment allegations at Springville High School until they saw them on social media. So, they asked students to come forward.
She says, “On Friday, we reached out to [the people who made] social media posts and said, ‘Please come in and bring in your complaints and any information you may have so that we can actually start a formal process.”
By Monday morning, the district did receive at least two formal complaints by former students. Hiskey hopes to reassure kids that they will be protected if they come forward with any kind of allegation.
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