AUSTIN, Texas — A substitute teacher who worked at an IDEA Public School in Austin is accused of indecency with a child.
According to an affidavit obtained by KVUE, on Nov. 1, two Austin Police Department (APD) officers responded to an IDEA Public School campus for a sex crime service call. When they arrived, the principal told them that her school uses a company called the Kokua Group to provide substitute teachers, and Alexander Jeffrey Hill responded to a request to cover a teacher who was out that day.
The principal told police that Hill was assigned to teach a fourth grade English class. A few hours after he arrived on campus, the principal said she received a call from a Kokua Group representative who requested an immediate call regarding Hill.
The affidavit states that the principal's administrative assistant spoke with the representative, who said he was advised by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that Hill had been flagged in the department's system for a prior incident at a different IDEA Public School campus.
The representative told the administrative assistant to get Hill off the campus immediately. Once the principal was notified, the assistant principal and another teacher were sent to escort Hill off campus, and the assistant principal escorted him off the property, according to the affidavit.
While the other teacher who was sent to escort Hill was in the classroom, the affidavit states that he was approached by three girls who said they needed to speak with him.
The teacher took the girls out of the classroom, and one of them told him that Hill had touched her private parts. The teacher then took the girls to a counselor, where they wrote a written statement about what happened. They were then seen by the school nurse and picked up by their parents.
In the written statement, one girl, age 10, said she was at the front of the class drawing on the board with the other two girls when Hill whispered in her ear that she was the "best artist in the class." According to the affidavit, she said Hill then put his groin area against her private part twice and then touched her private part. She wrote that she also saw Hill touch one of the other girls' private part.
That second girl, age 9, wrote that she needed help drawing and Hill helped her. She wrote that he began to push her against the wall with his groin, then stopped and then came back and pushed her against the wall, hurting her. She said that was when the other teacher and assistant principal walked into the classroom.
The third girl, also age 9, wrote that she was at the board and saw Hill touch the first girl's back private part and then he touched her own back private part.
The affidavit states that in a forensic interview on Nov. 8, the 10-year-old girl recounted what happened, further clarifying that Hill put his private area up against her butt and also that he inappropriately touched her in the same area. She said she also saw Hill touch the third girl on her butt and when she told both the girls what she said happened to her, they gave similar details of being touched by Hill.
On Nov. 3, APD officers made contact with Hill at his place of employment. According to the affidavit, he admitted that he stood behind a trio of female students on Nov. 1 to help them draw. He said he sometimes has casual contact with the children by touching their shoulders or backs, but he denied touching students in a sexual way or with sexual intent.
Hill said he allowed the students to draw on the board as they finished their work and that he stood next to the female students and then behind them. He said he stood behind them to reach over them and draw something on the board after one of the students asked for his help.
IDEA Public Schools issued a statement on Wednesday:
"At IDEA Public Schools, the safety and well-being of all students is our top priority. IDEA is aware of allegations of indecency with a child involving a substitute teacher at one campus and allegations of prior improper behavior involving the same substitute teacher at another campus. The substitute teacher is no longer on the campuses. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement in the investigation. IDEA takes all allegations of abuse seriously and has taken actions in accordance with the law and network policy. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are unable to share further details. All questions should be directed to the appropriate law enforcement agency."
Hill has been charged with indecency with a child sexual contact, a second-degree felony.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office confirmed he was released from jail on a surety bond on Dec. 17.
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