COLUMBUS, Ohio — The mother of a young boy is suing a former teacher’s aide for Teays Valley Local School District who raped her son and the school system she claims allowed it to happen.
Mandy Davis pleaded guilty to raping a sixth grade student while working as a teacher’s aide at Teays Valley Middle School in March 2022. She was 33 years old, and the boy was 12. Davis was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. She’s in custody at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
The boy’s mother, referred to as Jane Doe in court paperwork, filed a $2 million lawsuit against Davis, the Teays Valley Local School Board of Education, and several administrators on behalf of her son.
The lawsuit claims school staff noticed Davis' inappropriate behavior toward the boy and discussed it amongst themselves but did not notify Child Protective Services or police. The lawsuit also claims that at least one staff member spoke with Davis about her behavior twice, but the teacher’s aide was not reprimanded or fired until after she raped the boy.
10TV called Morgan Masters, an attorney representing the boy and his mother, for comment on Monday, but did not receive a call back before publication. 10TV also reached out to the school board for comment on Monday but did not receive a response.
Davis was a one-on-one classroom aide at TVMS and was assigned to work with special needs students. She was never scheduled to work with the boy she assaulted, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that Davis started grooming the boy in February 2021 and then raped him at her home in May 2021. During that time, staff noticed that she accompanied the boy to and from classes, lunch, and the restroom, and that she walked closely to him, whispered in his ears, and pulled him out of class so they could spend alone time together.
Davis allegedly told the boy that her husband was abusive, that she could go to jail, and that she would kill herself if they could not be together, the lawsuit claims.
Several staff members notified administrators about Davis’ behavior, including the school principal and the guidance counselor. Instead of firing Davis, the principal directed the vice principal to have a conversation with her. The vice principal spoke with Davis twice, advising her to distance herself from the boy due to “staff perception.” Davis tried to justify her closeness with the boy by saying he was having issues with his mother, and she was helping him. The assistant principal didn’t discipline Davis or verify her claims, according to the lawsuit.
In April 2021, the boy left the school with Davis for multiple weeks without his mother’s permission. The assistant principal called his mother to verify that she was aware the boy was getting a ride with Davis. During that conversation, his mother asked if there was anything else she needed to know, but the assistant principal did not disclose any of the staff’s reported concerns or complaints, the lawsuit claims.
Davis raped the boy at her home on May 10, 2021. The next day, the principal called the boy’s mother and notified her that Davis would be fired because he had reason to believe the teacher’s aide was communicating with the boy on social media. The boy disclosed the rape on May 14 when his mother took him to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for an evaluation after he posted a TikTok video discussing suicide, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that TVMS staff enabled Davis to rape the boy because they did not report the inappropriate relationship to authorities or launch a Title IX investigation.