KUTVA school in Utah has launched an investigation after a female teaching assistant was filmed sitting on a male student’s lap in class.
The clip was captured by a student at Granger High School in West Valley City on Friday, May 24, and it shows the unnamed woman sitting on a male student’s lap as she uses a computer in the classroom.
According to KUTV, the woman is a teacher’s aide which is not a licensed position at the school. They say she has been employed at Granger High since the beginning of the year as an hourly employee.
A student in the same year group, who chose not to be identified, described the incident as ‘sickening’.
They told KUTV:
The teacher was sitting on a student’s lap on her computer, she acts like she really doesn’t care.
I don’t think she was innocent at all doing it. It’s just very disruptive, and how can she even do that? It’s very sickening.
KUTVA spokesperson for the Granite School District confirmed they are investigating a potential breach of the school’s policy, however the woman has not yet been charged with a policy violation or with a crime and therefore her identity has not been revealed by the school.
It is not yet known what the motivation was for her sitting on the student’s lap.
In a statement, the school told KUTV:
This employee is an hourly aide who works with students in our credit recovery program (assisting the teacher who oversees this program).
She has been employed at the school since the beginning of the school year.
The school went on to say that a parent had initially reported the video to the school administration on Friday.
KUTVThe spokesperson continued:
We appreciate the parent who initially reported the video to our school administration on Friday.
The employee has not been to work since it was reported. The video speaks for itself and we anticipate taking appropriate action as soon as our investigation is complete.
This comes after a teacher in Illisnois was suspended after a video emerged of him ‘inappropriately’ touching a female student at Eagleville High School.
The video then seems to show the Travis Holland’s hand slowly move down towards her lower back, then across to her waist.
However, the student’s parents have spoken out to suggest Holland was comforting their daughter after a family bereavement.
The school district said in a statement:
We were notified of the video and did an initial review, but then deferred to law enforcement and DCS for their review. We have now heard back from both agencies and they are not pursuing any further investigation.
However, the school district has suspended the employee without pay pending the outcome of a district investigation.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.