Years after Lexington teacher charged, fired, state rules he can teach again

A state panel has decided that a Lexington choir teacher who pleaded to charges of harassment and assault involving children and who was fired from Winburn Middle School may teach again if he meets several conditions.

Thomas Steuart was charged with five counts of sexual abuse involving a child under 12 in 2018 when he was a choir teacher at Lexington’s Winburn Middle School, and ultimately entered an Alford plea to reduced charges of harassment and assault charges in 2021. He was fired from Fayette County Public Schools in 2020.

In an agreed order made public Feb. 13 in a board meeting agenda, the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board said Steuart’s teaching license was revoked retroactively from August 1, 2018 to August 1, 2023.

Before getting his license back, Steuart must submit written proof to the board that he has completed board approved courses on educator ethics and appropriate student-teacher boundaries.

Upon getting his license back, Steuart will be on probation for five years. Action would be taken against his license if he was disciplined by a school district or convicted of a crime, according to state licensing board documents.

Steuart must also submit a copy of his state background check, prepared by the Kentucky State Police or Administrative Office of the Courts, to the board by July 1 of every year during the probationary period.

Steuart, in an email on Wednesday, referred questions about whether he would seek to have his license reinstated to his attorney JoEllen McComb. An automatic email reply from McComb said she would be out of the office through next week.

Toni Konz Tatman, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said the department does not comment on specific disciplinary cases. The Education Professional Standards Board is housed in the Kentucky Department of Education.

“However, all cases are based on unique facts and circumstances,” Tatman said. “The Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) must consider and weigh these unique facts and circumstances when it determines disciplinary action for educator cases. This analysis includes consideration of whether or not the EPSB is able to locate witnesses and other evidence corroborating all allegations against an educator.”

In Kentucky, it can take months or sometimes years after an allegation before a teacher’s license is either voluntarily surrendered, revoked or suspended.

The resolution of a pending criminal case can delay board action on a teacher’s license.

Steuart entered an Alford plea in September 2021, according to an order from Fayette Circuit Judge Thomas L. Travis.

An Alford plea means the defendant pleads guilty but maintains their innocence and agrees that prosecutors have enough evidence that a jury could find them guilty in a trial. The EPSB typically holds cases in abeyance — a pending status— when there are underlying pending criminal matters, as long as the educator is not in the classroom.

Steuart’s case was also pending during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, which slowed the resolution of his criminal case.

The Herald-Leader, for a series of articles published in September, obtained 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118 — 61% — lost their license due to sexual misconduct.

Kentucky has some of the weakest laws in the country on sexual misconduct of school staff, according to one report from a national group that studies state laws and sexual misconduct involving teachers.

Kentucky requires teachers to have training on sexual abuse but that training is not specific to misconduct between school staff and students. Nor does Kentucky have laws that make it easier for potential employers to find out if a teacher had been previously accused of sexual misconduct but never criminally charged.

House Bill 288, a bill filed Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would make it illegal for school districts to have nondisclosure agreements between a teacher and a school district about conduct involving minors. The bill would also make applicants for jobs disclose if they have been the subject of allegations or investigations involving misconduct. The bill has not been assigned to a committee.

Lawyers say allegations false

Steuart and his criminal attorneys said the criminal allegations were false and that his reputation had been damaged, in motions filed in the criminal case.

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

The charges occurred after a male child under 16 alleged that Steuart had “subjected him to sexual contact,” the complaint said.

The alleged victim and other male juveniles would spend time at Steuart’s residence to swim and watch movies, according to the child. A second child under 12 years old said in an interview with Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass staff that he had also been touched sexually by Steuart at Steuart’s house after they returned from going out to eat, according to the complaint

Court records don’t say how Steuart met the alleged victims or if he had oversight of them in a professional capacity.

Two of the five counts of sexual abuse were downgraded to harassment, no physical contact with $100 fines on each count. One count was dismissed. One count was reduced to harassment, physical contact, no injury, and another count was amended to fourth-degree assault.

Steuart received a six-month jail sentence but was initially placed on probation for two years.

In October 2021, Travis gave Steuart credit for time served because of the amount of time he had previously been in jail and did not require him to face any additional time detained. He ultimately did not have to serve probation, court documents show.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 7:00 AM.