A Colorado school helped a teacher allegedly groom a 17-year-old student by helping the girl move into her instructor's home while keeping her parents in the dark.
Former Social Studies teacher, Leann Kearney, allegedly groomed a then-17-year-old female student at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, school district investigators said, according to CBS Colorado.
The unidentified student was allegedly involved in an inappropriate relationship with Kearney at the time and had been working with school officials to file federal paperwork to declare her homeless despite living with her parents.
Her mother, who was not identified, found the paperwork while cleaning her daughter one day. The student was filing the paperwork with the intention of moving in with Kearney.
She said she also found a letter that described her daughter kissing her teacher, which led the mother to find thousands of calls and texts between the pair.
'I think it's really scary that we can take teenagers - or children of any age - and say whatever you say is true and we're not going to investigate it. We're going to take big steps to declare you homeless without notifying the family,' friend of the family, Heather McCormick, told the outlet.
A Jefferson County School District found the girl 'obviously' did not 'meet the criteria to be considered homeless'.
However, school officials had previously helped the girl fill out the form, and Principal Scott Christy was aware the student was planning to file the paperwork.
Former Social Studies teacher, Leann Kearney, (pictured) allegedly groomed a then-17-year-old female student, who was not identified, at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado
The student was involved in an inappropriate relationship with Kearney at the time and had been working with school officials to file federal paperwork to declare her homeless, despite living with her parents
Her mother, who was not identified, found the paperwork while cleaning her daughter one day. The student was filing the paperwork with the intention of moving in with Kearney. She said she also found a letter that described her daughter kissing her teacher (pictured: the school)
Christy did not inform the parents of the girl's actions, and investigators found that staff did not follow the 'proper channels' for incidents like this, according to CBS Colorado.
'Not a single person stood up and said something doesn't seem right and reached out to the parents,' McCormick said.
The girl's mother went to the school with the texts records and showed them to Christy, who dismissed her, reportedly telling her: 'Ms. Kearney takes interest in helping kids navigate their sexuality,' CBS Colorado reported.
Kearney eventually quit two years later after continuous pressure from the mom and would eventually lose her teaching license, CBS Colorado said.
The student eventually did move in with Kearney when she turned 18 and moved out of state with her.
The mother is in contact with her daughter and is hopeful she'll move home, she told CBS Colorado.
School officials also helped the girl fill out the form, and Principal Scott Christy was aware the student was planning to file the paperwork. Christy did not inform the parents of the girl's actions
The school district has made moves to prevent Kearney from ever working in an educational environment again, it said in a statement.
And it has changed its policies to ensure it doesn't happen again. What exactly the policy change was is unclear.