BAYTOWN, Texas – A Baytown man said his 4-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by a classmate while at school.
"My heart just broke," said the man, whose identity has been concealed because of the allegations involving his daughter.
The girl was enrolled in pre-kindergarten at Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School in Baytown when the incident occured. Her father said a classmate inappropriately touched her in a unisex bathroom in the classroom on Dec. 14.
Her father told KPRC2 he noticed something was wrong that afternoon, when he picked her up from school.
"When we picked her up from school, she walked out to the car, and immediately, we noticed that her pants were on backwards and inside out, and her shoes were on the wrong feet," he said.
He said he then contacted the child's teacher by text message, and the two eventually talked over the phone. He said the teacher did not seem to know what had happened. So, he turned to his daughter and asked her.
"I turned around looked at my daughter in the back seat, and I said, 'Honey, who helped you with her pants?' And she gave me the name of the little boy, which I won't repeat here," he said.
The conversation continued.
"I said, 'Did he take your pants off?' And she said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Did he touch you?' and she said, 'Yes.'"
From there, there were meetings with school administrators. He said the school's principal told him they were able to confirm both students were in the bathroom. He said it remained unclear what happened to his daughter. He said other parents were not notified about the incident.
"The director of Student Services has made the statement to me that there were no plans to notify any of the parents that this happened," he said.
A spokesperson for Goose Creek Consolidated ISD told KPRC2:
"Goose Creek CISD can confirm that a classroom incident involving two 4-year-old, pre-kindergarten students is under investigation. Upon learning of the incident, which occurred just prior to the holiday break, the parents of both students were notified by the district, as were CPS and law enforcement. Those investigations are ongoing. Although federal and state law prohibits the district from sharing confidential information about student matters such as this, parents can be assured that swift and appropriate corrective actions have been taken."
The father has since enrolled his daughter and son in another school. He thought parents should have been made aware of the situation. He has shared his story on Facebook, in a video that has been viewed over 230,000 times.
"The parents should be given the common courtesy and decency to at least be notified that something like this occurred in the classroom," he said.