School Ignored Classroom Sex, Girl Says

HOUSTON (CN) - A Texas high school teacher made a student give him oral sex in his classroom and school officials ignored what was going on, the former student claims in court.

K.M. sued the Willis Independent School District in Federal Court. The school district is the only defendant.

Willis is 48 miles north of Houston.

"Bruce Kincaide ... was an assistant girls basketball coach and teacher at WHS during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. [K.M.] was a basketball player at WHS and Mr. Kincaide was one of her coaches, but she never had Mr. Kincaide as an academic teacher," the complaint states.

"Mr. Kincaide, during [K.M.'s] junior year, began befriending her through one or more discussions, through text messaging, phone calls, emails, etc. They had met previously through basketball at WHS, but Mr. Kincaid had not paid her any special attention prior to her junior year. During summer between [K.M.'s] junior and senior years, Mr. Kincaide became more and more aggressive in his actions towards [K.M.]: for example, he was writing suggestive communications, making physical gestures toward [K.M.] and suggesting that he 'liked 'her in a physical manner and that he was even having sexually suggestive dreams about her.

"During this time, [K.M.] learned that Mr. Kincaide was in a sexual relationship with another student at WHS, a personal friend of [K.M.]. Plaintiff further alleges that Mr. Kincaide was making suggestive advances towards other girls in the school."

K.M. claims Kincaide started calling her out of class to visit him in his classroom during his planning period.

She claims says her teacher, Ms. Huffer, "knew or should have known that Mr. Kincaide did not have a class at that time and that the attention being paid to [K.M.] was inappropriate," but that the other teacher let her go anyway.

"[K.M.] would proceed to Kincaide's room, and on the first few occasions, Mr. Kincaide would kiss and grope [K.M.]. [K.M.] did not know how to respond to the advances, and was afraid to tell anyone of the advances," the complaint states.

"As the semester progressed, and the calls to have [K.M.] leave Ms. Huffer's class increased, Mr. Kincaide began demanding oral sex be performed by [K.M.] in Mr. Kincaide's classroom following his visual exploration of porn sites on the school's computer. Mr. Kincaide would lock the classroom door to avoid anyone walking in. [K.M.] was called out of Ms. Huffer's class and into Mr. Kincaide's room in excess of 20 times during his 'off' period."

K.M. claims that Huffer and other school officials "turned a blind eye to what was going on" with Kincaide even as he looked at porn on school computers, showed increased attention to K.M. and other students, sent thousands of texts during school hours to K.M. and other students and "became extremely possessive of [K.M.], which included not allowing other coaches to work with her during basketball practice."

The complaint adds: "In December 2011, another WHS female student that Mr. Kincaide was having a relationship with was out of town, and Mr. Kincaide told [K.M.] to come to his house. As her coach, [K.M.] was vulnerable to Mr. Kincaide because of his age, physical size and authority. Mr. Kincaide directed [K.M.] to put her car out of site, and proceeded to take her in the house, where he put his hands around [K.M.'s] neck and proceeded to engage in sexual intercourse with [K.M.] against her will. [K.M.] was scared and fearful to report the occurrence initially; however, another friend whom [K.M.] confided in reported the relationship and Mr. Kincaide was subsequently charged criminally; those charges are still pending in the 9th District Court, Montgomery County, Texas."

K.M. claims that after the news broke about Kincaide's charges the school principal, Leslie Holtcamp, "attempted to badger [her] into changing her account of events."

"WISD was apparently not even going to seek criminal charges against Mr. Kincaide, instead trying to sweep the events under the rug. However [K.M.] (with the help of her mother and local law enforcement) pursued criminal charges against Mr. Kincaide," the complaint states. (Parentheses in complaint.)

"Admitting some level of fault in the events that occurred, WISD, following Mr. Kincaide's arrest, paid for [K.M.] to attend therapy with a counselor in Conroe, Texas, and continued to pay for said therapy through December 2012 (6 months after [K.M.] had graduated). Had WISD not realized its part and potential civil liability for what had occurred, it would not have gratuitously paid for counseling services. WISD was apparently hoping that [K.M.] would go away with some free counseling; however the damages caused by WISD far exceed a few counseling sessions." (Parentheses in complaint.)

K.M. seeks punitive damages for civil rights and Title IX violations.

She is represented by Kevin Forsberg of Montgomery, Texas.

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