LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A teacher at Minor Daniels Academy was transferred out of the school after a JCPS investigation found he made ‘sexually inappropriate comments’ to students, according to a report.
In response to an open records request by WDRB after two teachers were transferred, JCPS sent an investigation report outlining the allegations against Allan Lasky-Headrick – who went by Mr. Hippo at the school.
Investigators visited the school in November and interviewed a number of students and teachers regarding Lasky-Headrick’s behavior. Students had accused the science teacher of making inappropriate comments and taking photos and videos of them, so the school’s principal, Don Dillard, requested a JCPS investigation.
The document states students from one class submitted three statements that were signed by several students from the class to the administration.
Allegations included Lasky-Headrick talking about having sex with his wife, discussing his private parts and “rubbing against” a student from behind.
Students also told JCPS that Lasky-Headrick made them “feel uncomfortable by the way he stares at them." The students also told authorities that Lasky-Headrick had told them he was gay and that he was asked by at least one student to stop looking at another student’s buttocks.
According to the documents, investigators say Lasky-Headrick did make “inappropriate sexual comments to students.”
“Mr. Lasky-Headrick’s comments, even if they were responses to dialogue students were having amongst themselves, were inappropriate and unprofessional,” the document states.
JCPS investigators couldn’t determine if Lasky-Headrick had taken photos or videos of the students, but noted it was inappropriate and unnecessary for him to use his personal phone during class time.
On Nov. 20, Lasky-Headrick was transferred from Minor Daniels "to a location to be determined" and that on Nov. 23 he was to "report to Rick Caple, director of transportation, for temporary interim assignments."
Bonnie Hackbarth, a JCPS spokeswoman, told WDRB on Friday that Lasky-Headrick was still employed with the district while officials conduct the "due process" he's entitled to under his teaching contract.
Lasky-Headrick responded in an email addressed to Dillard and others Sunday, saying, in part, "(T)he issues that were made public ... are not only entirely false but terrible. I have never spoken with any students about my sex life, I have never stated to any student that I was gay, I have never rubbed against a student in any manner implied by the news. In short, I have never volunteered anything about myself and sex at the Minor Daniels Academy."
Lasky-Headrick said Dillard brought up "spurious trivialities" in their last meeting before Thanksgiving. "These included things like throwing paper out the window. This was your only pretext for moving me to another facility of JCPS."
Lasky-Headrick also wrote of "effecting change and invigorating change and understanding" in his students.
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