ANDERSON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18/Anderson County News)– A letter written by a former middle school teacher accused of threatening to cut off a student’s genitals in 2017 has surfaced this week.
The letter was obtained by the Anderson County News and is from former middle school teacher Chrystal Graham to the State Education Professional Standards Board.
The letter was written back in July 2017, weeks after Graham resigned after being accused of making the indecent comment at a kickball game. In the letter, Graham claims that she was bullied by the school’s principal, Jeanna Rose, all year long.
Graham said in the letter that it all started at the beginning of that year when “a special needs child sexually harassed” her and other students in her classroom. She writes that she reported the incident to the student’s parents, the principal, and to the school resource officer.” Graham said that after reporting the incident, she subsequently received an email from Principal Rose “reprimanding” her for including the school resource officer in the email. She wrote, “there have been many, many other situations,” including an expletive yelling instance with a teacher who is no longer employed by the district, and also Principal Rose not allowing Graham to make up a professional development day when she was going through chemotherapy, according to the letter.
The Anderson County Superintendent told LEX 18 that she didn’t know about the letter until Tuesday.
“The Educational Professional Standards Board does not provide superintendents with rebuttal information as part of their investigation process, and Chrystal Graham did not file a grievance regarding the concerns that she outlined in that letter to me,” said Superintendent Sherry Mitchell. “When I become aware of any allegations regarding students or staff, an investigation is conducted.”
LEX 18’s Claire Kopsky reached out to Principal Rose Wednesday, who declined to comment on the matter and pointed all communication to Superintendent Mitchell.
Court documents say that Graham threatened a student in a kickball game on the last day of school in 2017. Officials say she also “flipped off” one student. Documents show that one student claims to have heard Graham tell the student to “get off my player or I’ll cut your d–k off and shove it down your throat.”
Graham is scheduled to go to trial in August on a charge of second-degree conduct.
