photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Mark Gridley appears at his competency hearing Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

The Lawrence school district denies that it was negligent in hiring, retaining and supervising a speech pathologist who is accused of molesting multiple students at Prairie Park Elementary School.

In the civil lawsuit filed in March on behalf of one of the children — a 6-year-old girl — the district had already denied that it was vicariously liable for sexual battery by pathologist Mark Gridley, who has now been criminally charged with 14 crimes against elementary students. The district asked Douglas County District Judge Catherine Theisen to dismiss the vicarious liability claim, but she has declined to do so, as the Journal-World reported.

The vicarious liability claim is one of three claims in the plaintiff’s lawsuit. The other two are that the school district was negligent in hiring and retaining Gridley and that the district was negligent in supervising him — claims that the district had not directly addressed until it filed its answer Monday afternoon to the plaintiff’s petition for damages.

The plaintiff’s petition argued that the district breached its duty of care to the child by hiring and retaining Gridley when it knew or had reason to know that he had “engaged in acts of misconduct consistent with a dangerous propensity for unwanted, or abusive, sexual contact with children and students, including Plaintiff.”

The petition does not provide specifics concerning the alleged misconduct or how the district had reason to know, but states that sufficient “red flags” existed to put school officials on notice that an investigation was warranted. In its answer, the district denies that any such indicators existed.

The court record indicates that a subpoena has been issued for the business records of Seaman Unified School District, where Gridley had previously worked.

The petition also claimed that the district failed in its duty to properly supervise Gridley, allowing him “to isolate, groom, and sexually abuse Plaintiff” — a claim that the district in its answer likewise denied.

The petition is not specific in how Gridley allegedly did this, but an arrest affidavit in the criminal case alleges that he had paper covering his office window at the school so that no one could see in or out and that last winter he pulled children out of class one by one, took them to his office, bound and blindfolded them and sexually abused them under the guise of providing speech and language therapy. Afterward, he reportedly gave the children stickers or other rewards and let them return to class.

The next court hearing in the civil matter is scheduled for Oct. 11.

The plaintiff’s petition asks for compensatory damages in excess of $75,000 for each of the three claims, to be determined by a jury.

Gridley’s preliminary hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for Oct. 2, 3 and 6. At that hearing, Judge Amy Hanley will decide whether probable cause exists to order him to stand trial on 14 felony counts involving seven children — seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and seven counts of kidnapping.

Gridley, 61, was arrested in February. He has been out of jail since Aug. 14 on a $750,000 bond with strict conditions, including GPS monitoring.