Parents seek answers after 2 Lanesville High School students charged with sexual battery

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Parents are searching for answers after two students at Lanesville High School were accused of inappropriately touching other students.

They took their concerns to the Lanesville School Board Tuesday night. Some parents felt the school’s administration swept the entire situation under the rug.

Brian McIntyre is a concerned parent and citizen. He was one of a group of parents at the meeting, asking the school board to address the situation.

“One of you, if not all of you,” parent Brian McIntyre said to the board. “Are going to stand up and not be a coward and make a statement for this community. Period.”

Harrison County Sheriff Nick Smith said Lanesville administrators asked the Sheriff’s Office to look into the allegations of inappropriate touching between students.

The investigation led to sexual battery and harassment charges being filed against two juveniles. They were allegedly upperclassmen on the Lanesville basketball team, and the victims were their lower-grade teammates.

“This isn’t 1982,” McIntyre said. “These things have to be addressed. When you talk about sexual allegations, bullying, and code of conduct issues and puppeteering, those are serious accusations.”

“You can’t sit on it while kids are still being here with other kids and the coach that is still allowing it to happen,” another parent said.

Parents said the administration hasn’t done anything to protect the victims.

“You are talking about something that we’ve already acknowledged is not on our agenda that we’re not going to talk about,” Lanesville Superintendent Steve Morris said.

After some back and forth, two members of the board temporarily adjourned the meeting and got up to leave. The other three members decided to stay seated, and the meeting continued.

The board said that legally, they can’t say anything.

“From the school’s standpoint, and from the legal system standpoint,” Morris said. “At this point in time, that’s all we can say and address on this issue.”

After the meeting, parents met with Lanesville Principal Ryan Apple.

“Now they need our help gathering information, so they can do something before we come back from school,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre claimed Apple says the school wants to re-interview all the students who were involved.

McIntyre said the school can get all that information from the Sheriff’s Office if they just asked.

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