CONSTANTINE, Mich. – Police are investigating an alleged sexual conduct incident that happened at Eastside Elementary School last week.
According to the Constantine Public Schools Superintendent, Chuck Frisbie, the incident allegedly happened between two kindergarteners. The incident happened in the classroom on November 26, 2012 and came to light a day later.
Parents were notified about the incident on Nov. 29, through a letter from Superintendent Frisbie and told that police were investigating the incident.
The police arranged interviews with several kids who were in the classroom at the time of the incident to gather more information.
“Constantine is a very nice, close knit community, unfortunately when something likes this happens. it’s unfortunate but things like this do occur, especially with younger kids sometimes. and the parents have been very cooperative and very understanding,” Cerny said.
The school district held a meeting on Dec. 3 for the parents of the children in the classroom. In the meeting, the main concern of the parents was the safety of their children.
“Sometimes with these cases it’s not always that they have been victimized but that’s my primary goal right now is to safeguard our children in Constantine and to also safeguard the children that are involved in this,” said Officer Cerny.
According to the Constantine Schools, the students allegedly involved will not be in class while they are waiting for the results of the investigation.
The teacher is not suspected of any criminal activity, but has been suspended with pay pending the results of the investigation, which is the school’s policy.
According to Frisbie, the police are still collecting facts about the incident, but the investigation is supposed to in the final stages on Friday, Dec. 7.
Frisbie asks parents to be patient and says the district will schedule a parent meeting to discuss any concerns that parents have about the district’s handling of the situation when the investigation is over.
