Police: School district helped groomer disguised as a teacher carry out sexual relationship with one of her students

JEFFERSON COUNTY, CO - If anyone wants to know why parents are increasingly pulling their kids out of public school and homeschooling instead, the following is a good example. 

CBS News reports that the Jefferson County School District has apologized to the parents of a Columbine High School student after school officials conspired with a teacher and one of her students to lie on a federal form, hide it from parents, and allow the student to move in with the teacher. 

Investigators hired by the school district learned that the 17-year-old female student became involved in an “inappropriate” relationship with Leann Kearney, a social studies teacher. Investigators said Kearney was “grooming” the girl. 

A friend of the victim’s mom, Heather McCormick, said there were “red flags” long before the district decided to hire investigators. 

“There’s this icky feeling that something is wrong, and as it progressed, it only got worse,” McCormick said. “Not a single person stood up and said something doesn’t seem right and reached out to the parents.” 

Investigators obtained school emails via a FOIA request that showed school counselors purposefully kept parents out of the loop. At the same time, they assisted their daughter in declaring herself homeless so she could move in with Kearney. 

“I think it’s really scary that we can take teenagers–or children of any age–and say ‘whatever you say is true and we’re not going to investigate it. We’re going to take big steps to declare you homeless without notifying the family.’” 

It wasn’t only counselors who assisted the girl in deceiving her parents. Investigators said Columbine principal Scott Christy was also aware of the girl’s plans and withheld it from parents. 

McCormick said it wasn’t until the victim’s mom was cleaning her room that she came across the homeless document, along with a letter describing her daughter kissing Kearney. She then discovered thousands of calls and texts between the two. 

The mom told investigators she sent Kearney a message warning her to cease contact with her daughter, then showed Christy the calls and texts. He simply blew her off, telling her, “Ms. Kearney takes interest in helping kids navigate their sexuality.” 

Right. 

McCormick alleges school officials would have treated the incidents differently had Kearney been a male teacher. Kearney ended up quitting, however, it took two years and a lot of pressure from the victim’s mother before she lost her teaching license. 

However, that wasn’t the end of the story. When the victim turned 18, she moved out of state with Kearney. 

“It’s really scary to think there are schools and teachers and administrators that are working behind your back and not in the best interest of your child.” 

Jeffco Public Schools claims it conducted a “thorough” investigation, and the principal fully cooperated. In a statement, the district said:

“Obviously, the student did not meet the criteria to be considered homeless, and the staff involved in this isolated incident were addressed as part of the investigation as the proper channels were not followed. 

“While we have taken every step to remove this former employee from Jeffco and prevent her from working in another educational setting…we recognize this is of little comfort to the family…we deeply regret how profoundly this violation has affected their family.” 

The school district claimed to have changed its policies to prevent the same type of incident from happening again. McCormick said the victim’s mother wants more accountability for those involved. 

“If actions are not taken and if people are not held accountable, it will happen to someone else.” 

Christy, who helped cover up the abuse of a student under his care, is still employed at Columbine, as confirmed by his email address. 

As a point of information, sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust is a class 3 felony in Colorado (Title 18, §§ 18.3.405.3). Colorado also has a mandatory reporting law that mandates “public or private school employees” are required to report child abuse or neglect, which typically covers any child under the age of 18.