A Florida school leader is being accused of forcing a student to massage her feet and even making sexual remarks to the child.
Dr. Keiva Lark, assistant principal at Lake Marion Creek Middle School in Poinciana, has been charged with lewd/lascivious conduct and lewd offense against a student by an authority figure. According to authorities, the victim, a 13-year-old male student, was allegedly sent to Lark’s office after tossing a piece of paper across the classroom during a testing period. While inside her office, Lark allegedly told him to rub her feet, seemingly as punishment. Two witnesses and the victim corroborated this story to the sheriff’s office. The 53-year-old then allegedly took off her shoes and put her legs across the boy’s lap.
While the boy was massaging her feet, the woman shockingly chastised him for not rubbing her correctly and demonstrated on his arm and shoulder how he should be doing it. One of Lark’s coworkers repeatedly overheard her tell the teen to “rub her feet like he loved her” and another witness heard Lark say that she wanted him to do this “so he would know what foreplay is for when he gets a girlfriend,” making the situation a sexual one.
In the days following the disturbing moment, Lark admitted to one person that the incident with the student “crossed the line.” Adding insult to injury, the victim told authorities that Lark had called him “Sexy Chocolate” in the hallway at school.
“Dr. Lark initially told detectives that this was only a joke and that she was just trying to humble the victim. It’s completely inappropriate for a 53-year-old woman to act and talk like this to a middle school boy. It’s even worse given that this was an assistant principal and her student,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Lark has been placed on administrative leave as the investigation continues. It’s unclear if there are more victims.
“This is abhorrent behavior for anyone who works among students, especially an administrator. This person no longer has any business being around children. We commend the school principal for immediately reporting this incident, so we could take action and work with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to protect students,” Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid said.
