A post circulating social media shows several 7th and 8th-grade parents at AHLF Junior High School in Searcy, saying Thursday, March 2nd, their children came home from school, saying they were forced into an uncomfortable situation. (KATV)
SEARCY, AR — A post circulating social media shows several 7th and 8th-grade parents at AHLF Junior High School in Searcy, saying Thursday, March 2nd, their children came home from school, saying they were forced into an uncomfortable situation.
In the alleged incident, students said they were forced to remove their polo shirts in front of other students, of the opposite sex, in their choir class.
Parents who reached out to KATV were fearful of going on camera out of potential retaliation but say their kids were asked to remove the shirts to turn into the office.
They add students did ask to go to the bathroom to remove their tops and were told no.
KATV reached out to Searcy Public Schools for an interview.
While they declined to go on camera, they did provide a statement from Superintendent Dr. Bobby Hart.
Hart writes, "Searcy School District was made aware of a situation involving students at AHLF Junior High School. After a thorough investigation, the administration found that there was no wrongdoing by staff members or students."
Parents say that statement is unacceptable and untrue, saying they spoke to a principal at the junior high school, who admitted to them it happened, telling them quote “we screwed up”.
Many parents want to know if the police department will get involved.
KATV personally spoke to higher-ups with Searcy PD. who said they were not even aware of the situation, until they received a call from Arkansas State Police, asking if they needed any assistance on the matter.
Since then, they have opened their own investigation.
They say it will start with a School Resource Officer speaking with faculty about the incident and going into the classroom to see if there were working cameras or if students had cell phones recording at the time.
We hope to have an update from Searcy Police regarding their findings in the coming days.