Lawsuit: Talawanda teacher groped middle schoolers, admin knew and didn't investigate

A civil lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Talawanda School District officials of failing to fire a middle school teacher accused of groping a 12-year-old girl during class in 2021, even though a Title IX investigation found he had a history of sexually assaulting students as far back as 2014. The teacher resigned for "personal reasons" a year and a half later.

The lawsuit, filed by a student and her parents, demands a trial by jury.

The teacher, Paul Stiver, was sued at the state level in December for the same incident and a settlement is in the works, according to Butler County court records.

Students raised several concerns about Stiver over the years. Incidents listed in the federal complaint from other minors include Stiver giving students unsolicited gifts, making inappropriate jokes, rubbing girls' backs and shoulders, touching girls' chests and telling one student to not wear low-cut tops or bend over in front of him.

Read the complaint at the end of this story or here.

The Talawanda Board of Education, as an entity, and its individual board members Patrick Meade, Rebecca Howard, Chad Otto, Kathleen Knight-Abowitz and David Bothast were named in the federal complaint along with Superintendent Ed Theroux, Talawanda Middle School Principal Michael Malone and Vice Principal Stephanie Aerni. The student is identified by initials; her parents are identified by first name and last name initial.

The school district declined to comment as of Thursday afternoon.

The complaint says Stiver was teaching a business fundamentals class Dec. 1, 2021 when the incident occurred. While students were playing a computer game, he approached the girl's desk, placed his hand on her shoulder and upper back and slid his hand down the front of her chest to grope her breast. Another student witnessed the assault.

The assaulted student texted her older sister afterward. She wrote: "Umm... Mr. Stiver just touch my shoulder and slide his hand down to my chest," according to the complaint. She also expressed fear of reporting the incident, even though her classmate that saw it happen urged her to go to the school administration.

The girl told her parents, who rushed to meet her at the school. That's when the student reported the incident to another teacher and then to administrators. The school resource officer also received the report and a criminal complaint against Stiver was filed with Oxford Police.

While the incident was widely covered by media at the time, the complaint says the community was not particularly surprised because residents claimed "it was common misbehavior for Stiver."

School administrators Malone and Aerni told investigators there had been recent prior allegations of harassment made against Stiver. But those previous allegations were not properly investigated, and they did not get added Stiver's personnel file, the complaint reads.

The student who was assaulted in December 2021 received a lot of support from her peers after she reported Stiver, but the complaint says she was also bullied. The harassment that came in the aftermath of her reporting Stiver to authorities was never investigated, either.

"I hope he touches your sister too," one prank caller told her, according to the complaint.

The incident with Stiver and everything that followed contributed to a steep decline in the girl's mental health, the complaint says. She eventually left Talawanda and was homeschooled. She began self-harming and has had suicidal ideation.

“The last place a student should be subjected to sexual predation is in the classroom,” attorney Austin LiPuma of Freking Myers & Reul said in a Thursday news release. “Talawanda School District has continuously failed its students. This will not be tolerated by the community.”

LiPuma and other attorneys representing the student are encouraging other survivors to reach out to 513-721-1975.