WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Parents question future of charged Kershaw County teacher

Parents question future of charged Kershaw County teacher

KERSHAW COUNTY, SC (WIS) - Parents are upset that a Kershaw County teacher is still being paid.

Thomas Shults has officially been charged with assault and battery. This comes after allegations that he forced female students to perform sex acts for a grade.

Parent Lynne West says, "If he gets by with it now, he's just getting bolder and bolder. What's going to happen next?"

West is scared. She says her daughter was one of the girls police say was instructed by Thomas Shults. Police reports say, "He has made sexual annotations about classroom activities" and "His grades are based on class participation and acting out some of the plays and riddles include sex scenes."

West says, "The school is acting like he is the victim. He's not the victim. The girls are. They are trying to protect him instead of protect our girls."

West and other parents also are concerned because even though the sheriff's office made an arrest, the schools have not fired him. Mary Anne Byrd of Kershaw County Schools says, "Not until a decision would be made by the school board would any action be final. It takes a lot of time, not something we're going to rush to judgement and say we are done."

The school declined to confirm comments that this wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened inside of Thomas Shults' classroom, but parents told us three years ago he made sexual comments to a girl while teaching the same class.

Parents want to know if the schools let him come back that time, will it happen again? They want to know if Shults could be back in a Kershaw County school. Byrd says, "The investigation is going on so anything is a possibility."

West says, "My fear and it's all these little girls that had this happen to. I've spoken to several of them besides my daughter. They're all terrified about him coming back into the school."

The school says it will not make a final decision as to whether or not Shults will be allowed back into the school until after their own investigation is over.

Reported by Stewart Moore

Posted by Chantelle Janelle