COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — A Colorado Springs teacher is named in a civil lawsuit filed in Wisconsin in late June, claiming she failed to report a teacher who was later convicted of sexually assaulting students.
Susan Booth is a teacher at Eagleview Middle School in Academy District 20, according to the school's website. Prior to her employment in Colorado Springs, she was a teacher and principal at St. Matthias School, a catholic school in Wisconsin.
Booth has not been charged or convicted of a crime.
The civil lawsuit is not filed against Booth personally, instead, the Archdiocese of Wisconsin and St. Matthias School are the defendants, but Booth is named in the contents of the lawsuit, it claims she failed to report sexual abuse at the school in 2013.
According to the complaint, while Booth was the school’s principal, the Parish Director and parents notified her about a teacher conducting tutoring sessions in a locked room and inappropriately touching students. That teacher, Kevin Buelow was later convicted and sentenced to 26 years in state prison for sexually assaulting students at the school and another school in Wisconsin he taught at after his employment at St. Matthias. An attorney representing one of the teacher’s victims filed the lawsuit.
News5 Investigates attempted to speak with Booth directly; we were directed to her attorney, Kyle Hanson, who told News5 “the only comment we have is that Susan is not named as a defendant in the suit, and she denies the allegations.”
St. Matthias School in Milwaukee told News5 it does not comment on pending litigation.
In Booth’s employment application obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request, it says she left her employment in Wisconsin specifically to relocate to Colorado Springs.
Academy District 20 told News5 Investigates “Academy District 20 was made aware of the civil matter and is investigating internally. As a policy, the District does not comment about internal employee matters publicly due to our need to maintain privacy. Given the suit does not pertain to any matters that took place in Academy District 20, nor during any employee’s tenure with the District, it would not be appropriate to offer further comments.”
The district did confirm Booth is still employed with the district.
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