MILES PARKS, HOST:
Teachers and educators are expected to keep students safe. But in schools across the country, sexual abuse by educators is still a problem. A new season of the podcast Dig from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting takes on this troubling issue. In its third season, Dig uncovers 18 years of alleged abuse by two educators in Louisville, Kentucky, and also gives a voice to the women seeking justice. Jess Clark is the host and reporter of that show, and she joins us now. Hi, Jess.
JESS CLARK, BYLINE: Hi.
PARKS: So what made you want to take on this really difficult topic?
CLARK: Yeah, so throughout my career, I've done a ton of one-off stories about allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct by teachers or other educators. And for a long time, I've been wanting to do a deeper look at what child sexual abuse looks like in schools and why it keeps happening. But it's really rare to find survivors who are willing to speak out about what happened to them because of the trauma and the stigmatization. But back in 2024, I was covering a school board meeting, and I met these three women who were actually protesting in front of the school board building and told me that they were abused by the same two men who, at the time, were still employed by the school district. These allegations were years apart, and so I knew that this was a chance not only to lift up the voices of the alleged victims, but also to explore the systemic issues that allow child sex abuse to persist in schools.
PARKS: Wow. So this school board meeting, you actually have audio of it, right? Can we hear a little bit?
CLARK: Yeah. So this is when Alexis Crook addresses the school board. Alexis is 36 now and is the oldest alleged victim of Ronnie and Donnie Stoner. Ronnie and Donnie Stoner are brothers. They are educators and football coaches. They are also twins. And for this podcast, I talked to six women who say they experienced abuse or attempted abuse by one or both of them, going back 18 years in both public and private schools. Both Ronnie and Donnie Stoner deny these allegations. There's a trial set for next year, and both Stoners have pleaded not guilty. So when Alexis came to address the board last year, it appeared staff had removed her name from the list of speakers. They weren't going to let her talk. But then an advocate who was with her stood up and demanded that she be allowed to speak, and the board chair, Corrie Shull, said she could go ahead and make her remarks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
ALEXIS CROOK: OK.
CLARK: Alexis moves to the podium.
CROOK: OK. Good evening. My name is Dr. Alexis Crook. And I stand here with victims and parents of victims of JCPS staff and coaches. It's truly unfortunate that I have to speak on this tonight. However, I would be remiss if I continue to hear the stories of sexual abuse from the same employees and remain silent. So today, I stand...
CLARK: As Alexis speaks, Shull and a second board member continue to pack up their papers. Another board member swivels in his chair.
CROOK: Twenty years is a very long time for the same predators to continue to have their pick of victims within the school. Moving staff to different schools or placements doesn't fix the problem. Myself and other victims have to deal with the trauma for this for the rest of our lives. We want...
CLARK: That is the sound of Alexis' microphone being cut after her three minutes were up. It's board policy to do that for every speaker. But in this circumstance, it felt wrong. The Jefferson County Board of Education had quite literally silenced an alleged survivor of child sex abuse.
So we reached out to the Jefferson County Board of Education and to district leadership. Top staff say they can't comment because of pending litigation. Some school board members say they are concerned, but they aren't ready to provide a statement.
PARKS: You mentioned that these allegations go back decades. Can you tell us about any of the other survivors that you talked to?
CLARK: Sure. So Alexis is the oldest woman I spoke to. The second oldest was a woman named Lady Moore, and she was the first girl who tried to alert the public school system that Ronnie Stoner was a problem. This was all the way back in 2014. Lady Moore was 15 years old, and she says Ronnie, who was running in-school suspension, pulled her into the hallway and came onto her. And she did something that most victims of educator sexual misconduct don't do. She went to her administrator. The district did an investigation. But in the end, they decided it was a he-said-she-said situation, and they decided to side with Ronnie, the educator. Here's Lady talking about how it made her feel.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
LADY MOORE: I now see why young females don't say nothing when something like that happens 'cause no one listened. This is like, I told y'all, I warned y'all, and now look at all these girls who y'all could have prevented or helped - and nothing.
PARKS: Right. I mean, he kept his job. Did he go on to abuse other people after that?
CLARK: Allegedly, yes - so two years later, he was working at a middle school where he allegedly abused a 13-year-old girl named Alyssa Foster. Alyssa is 21 today, and she is one of the core group of alleged survivors who have been fighting for accountability. And Alyssa says that Ronnie sexually abused her in his office throughout the school year behind closed doors under the pretense that he was helping her with behavioral problems.
PARKS: Now that these two brothers have been indicted, what are you hearing from these victims? How are they responding to that?
CLARK: They're nervous. They recognize that this is a big step towards what they see as justice, but the trial is a long way off. And a lot could happen before then. They're worried about the possibility of a plea deal, and they want it to go to trial. But at the same time, they're very anxious about what the trial means. Trial is very hard on victims of child sex abuse, and it can be very retraumatizing. And the whole process of getting to an indictment has already brought up a lot of buried trauma that is challenging to handle. Fortunately, the friendship that they've built together is very strong, and it's really the thing that's keeping them going.
PARKS: That's Jess Clark. She's a reporter and the host of Louisville Public Media's podcast Dig. Thank you so much for joining us.
CLARK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
