Fayette schools fire middle school choir teacher charged with child sexual abuse

A former choir teacher at Lexington’s Winburn Middle School charged with sexual abuse of children has been fired by Fayette County schools, district documents show.

School board documents attached to the April planning meeting agenda said that Thomas Steuart’s firing was effective January 6 of this year.

“We cannot comment on personnel matters,” district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Friday.

Steuart in 2018 was charged with five counts of sexual abuse, four of them involving a child under 12, according to online Fayette Circuit Court records.

Steuart has pleaded not guilty. A hearing on the criminal charges is set in Fayette Circuit Court on July 9.

The Herald-Leader previously reported that according to court documents, a group of children would sometimes go to Steuart’s house to swim and watch movies. One of the children under 12 was interviewed by the Children’s Advocacy Center and said that he had touched him inappropriately twice while they watched movies, according to court records.

A second child, this one under 16 years old, said in an interview with the Children’s Advocacy Center that he had also been touched inappropriately by Steuart at his house, according to court records. The second child said Steuart had taken him and other children out to eat, after which they returned to his house, swam and then watched a movie, at which point the inappropriate touching occurred, according to court documents.

Steve Wides, identified in court records as Steuart’s criminal attorney, did not immediately comment Friday.

Steuart was previously a part-time choral director at Georgetown College, school officials had said.

Georgetown College spokesman Daniel Flenor said Friday that Steuart had not been associated with the college since 2018.

This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 2:44 PM.