The words the school district is using to describe the sex acts they say occurred are shocking, unbelievable, and alarming. They still don't know exactly when last week these events occurred because the principal only learned about them yesterday.
"We are trying to get to the bottom of it and determine how something so heinous could have occurred," says Oakland Unified School District spokesperson Troy Flint.
Flint was running out of words to describe the shocking sexual incidents that a student said took place in a second grade classroom here at the school sometime last week.
From one occasion, two students were engaged in sexually explicit acts. In a separate incident, the students were disrobing in the class and were in various states of undress," says Flint.
When the principal, Pam Booker, learned of the incident, she began an investigation and sent out a letter to all of the parents describing the incidents and adding, "The teacher in the classroom where the acts allegedly occurred will not be reporting to the site pending the outcome of the investigation."
"There was an adult present at the time so obviously there was an egregious lapse of supervision. It's not clear how this could have happened. It's totally unacceptable," says Flint.
Dwight Munson has a niece who attends Markham.
"It's unheard of, I mean, this would have never happened during the time when I went to school or the time when my children went to school. I mean, this is just absurd, unbelievable," says Munson.
The district has a counselor talking to the children to find out why and how the events occurred.
"We know it's natural for young children to have curiosity, but certainly not to express it in this way. It's not acceptable for it to happen when an adult is present. You're supposed to provide guidance. So we will be going over with the children how to restrain that curiosity," says Flint.
The investigation is being conducted by the Oakland police and the school district, as well as school counselors.
Also, in the letter to parents, she also included an apology and said that she was actually going to get to the bottom of this and make sure that it never happens again.
