Click here for updates on this story
GOODYEAR, AZ (KTVK) — New information surfaced in the sex abuse scandal involving a Goodyear teacher and her sixth-grade student.
Liberty School District now claims they are not liable, even though police say the Las Brisas Academy principal knew about the allegations and didn’t report them.
“If I was a parent who had a child at Las Brisas Academy, I would be concerned,” said Russ Richelsoph, the attorney for the student’s family.
It’s been more than a year since sixth-grade teacher Brittany Zamora was arrested for sexual conduct with one of her 13-year-old male students.
Two weeks ago she pleaded guilty, but the school district is claiming its innocence.
“The school district is still denying responsibility for their part in what happened,” said Richelsoph.
Richelsoph said the district told them that Timothy Dickey, the school’s principal, did nothing wrong.
However, Richelsoph said the timeline paints a much different picture.
According to the report, teachers and students went to Dickey in January and February of 2018 with concerns about Zamora’s relationship with the student. Three students in Zamora’s class wrote statements about it and took them to Dickey.
“He failed to report this to law enforcement or DCS as he’s required to,” said Richelsoph.
Richelsoph said Dickey went further than that.
“Principal Dickey told the police they asked him ‘Where are these written letters from these girls?’” said Richelsoph. “And he’s like, ‘I destroyed them.’”
Instead of contacting the alleged victim’s parents or confronting Zamora, Richelsoph said the principal did something else.
“He then went to the class and lectured the students on not spreading rumors,” said Richelsoph.
After that, Richelsoph said Zamora went to Dickey crying, but the report said the sexual conduct continued both in and out of the classroom.
A year later, Dickey is still principal of the school.
Arizona’s Family went to Dickey’s listed address to ask him why he failed to report the allegations, but nobody came to the door when we knocked.
Richelsoph said they’ll be talking to the three students who wrote those statements and interviewing Dickey.
Arizona’s Family reached out to the school district’s attorney for a response but did not hear back.
Zamora faces up to 30 years in prison.
Her sentencing is scheduled for July 12.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
