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X-rated curriculars? A look at sex incidents in Southwest Florida schools

Posted at 10:00 PM, Oct 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-29 20:09:25-04

(Lee County, FL) -- When you think of high school a spirit filled football game or innocent fun with friends might come to mind. 

That's why it's hard for many to believe that some of the football players at South Fort Myers high school made national headlines for what they did off the field in a campus bathroom in May. 

"When I first heard about it I thought there was no way," says Matthew a Cape Coral High School student. 

He's talking about the fact that more than a dozen football players at the school had sex with a 15-year old girl during a study hall on campus after school. 

All of it was caught on cell phone video that's too graphic to share with Fox 4 Viewers but that didn't stop some students from sharing it on social media with teens at different schools across Southwest Florida. 

Cape High Senior, Gianna, says it wasn't long before she heard about it.  "I didn't really believe it at first but there was that whole video thing that was circulating and I thought that was pretty disgusting," she said. 

Supervision came into sharp focus as parents learned of the on campus sex incident. 

People should be watching over them.  Something like that should never happen in high school," one parent tells Fox 4. 

But is this type of behavior only happening at one school?  Is it just high school?  How often are these types of things happening?

Four in Your Corner wanted to know so we did some digging.  First, we asked the Lee County School District for any reports of sexual activity during the past school year. 

The school district's response, in part, "We are unable to provide information concerning any disciplinary actions taken against students."

So, we went to the Lee County Sheriff's Office and requested any calls deputies responded to involving sex at school. 

We got dozens and dozens of reports ranging from elementary to high school. 

More than half of the reports, sadly, are students telling teachers or school resource officers about abuse at home or off campus by a family member or a friend. 

Others, detail behavior most parents found shocking as Four In Your Corner's Amy Wegmann sat down and read it with them. 

Some examples:

A report of sex in the bathroom at Lehigh Senior High School.  According to the Sheriff's office report a male student was seen leaving the girl's bathroom.  A female student admitted to deputies that she was having sex in the restroom with a boy but claimed she was forced to do it.

Another report of sex in the bathroom comes from Cape Coral High School.  This time the report details a female student "in the boy's restroom".  The report goes on to say the student "gave consent to all physical touching which included sexual intercourse".

At South Fort Myers High School, the same school where dozens of football students were caught having sex in the bathroom with one girl, a report of oral sex in class.   The student in this case told detectives it happened "in the Physical Science classroom with 30 or so kids and the teacher in the room".  She told the deputies in the report that "she wanted to do it just not in school" and added that "no one saw anything because they were watching a movie".

Gateway Charter which isn't governed by the Lee County School district had a report of bodily fluids contacting unsuspecting students.  Two students were involved and the reports says a "small amount made contact with the lower legs of two female students seated in direct vicinity". 

These are some of the most surprising reports but there are dozens of others involving nude photos and videos, battery and other sex acts. 

Four In Your Corner asked to sit down with the Lee County School District to talk about these cases to find out if officials think there's an issue and to find out what measures are in place to supervise students in school.  The district's response, "We are not interested in participating in your story at this time.  Thank you for your interest."

Parents and caregivers we talked to say that's not good enough and they think they deserve answers.

"It's our job to protect our children and to teach them right from wrong," says one parent. 

"Kids spend more time at school then they do at home and parents are paying money to have their kids taken care of and make sure they're safe," says Leah Dowling. 

We've uploaded many of the reports we were given by the Lee County Sheriff's office here so you can read through the dozens of others for yourself.  Just Click Here