Sub Charged With Sex Abuse Worked At 14 MCPS Schools

SILVER SPRING, MD — A substitute teacher who was arrested last week after being accused of inappropriately touching a student at Clovery Elementary School worked at 13 other public schools in the County, Superintendent Jack Smith said.

Steven Katz, 59, of Columbia worked as a Montgomery County Public Schools substitute teacher from May 2017 to March 12, 2018.

Police say that sometime after school on March 8, a Cloverly Elementary School student told his parent that his substitute teacher had touched him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable. According to police, the student identified the teacher as Katz.

During a police interview, Katz "made admissions relating to inappropriately touching the student," Montgomery County Police said.

Katz is charged with sexual abuse of a minor and fourth-degree sexual offense.

Katz also substituted at: Burning Tree Elementary, Seven Locks Elementary and Thomas W. Pyle Middle schools in Bethesda; Brooke Grove Elementary, Olney Elementary and William H. Farquhar Middle schools in Olney; Burnt Mills Elementary and John F. Kennedy High schools in Silver Spring; Sherwood Elementary and Sherwood High schools in Sandy Spring; Wayside Elementary School in Potomac; Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville and Burtonsville Elementary School in Burtonsville.

“The allegations in this case are upsetting and unacceptable. They represent a violation of MCPS policies and do not reflect the values of our school system,” Smith said in a statement. “The safety of every student in our district is our top priority and a responsibility that we do not take lightly. We have and will continue to work every day to ensure our schools are safe places to learn.”

Parents joined together at Cloverly Elementary Monday to demand answers, as this is the second teacher recently facing child sex abuse charges at the school.

"We can only protect them at home. When we send them to school, we expect them in a safe environment that the students feel comfortable in. That hasn't happened for us," a parent said Monday, according to Fox 5.

See Related:

• Sex Charges Against Substitute From Columbia Prompts Probe
  
• Silver Spring Substitute Teacher Charged With Sexual Abuse
  
• Former Silver Spring Elementary Teacher Convicted of Sex Abuse Charges

In June 2017, third-grade teacher John Vigna was convicted of sexual abuse charges after students said he touched them inappropriately. The sexual offenses alleged against the third-grade teacher first involved two 11-year-old girls. Three more victims later came forward — one woman in her 20s said Vigna sexually abused her when she was a student between 2000 and 2002, one girl said she was abused during the 2013-2014 school year and the last girl said Vigna abused her during the 2015-2016 school year.

“We don’t want people to think of Cloverly as that community that is continually victimized,” a parent Monday said, ABC7 reports.

Katz has also been a substitute in Howard counties and worked one day in Baltimore County Public Schools, according to WBAL. Charging documents obtained by the news station stated that in addition to moving his hand from the shoulder of an 11-year-old boy to his buttocks, Katz also allegedly touched a girl's waist and a boy's back and apologized to all of the children.

"We hold our staff to the highest standards and it hurts us when our staff doesn't behave in that manner," Derek Turner, spokesman for Montgomery County Schools, said at the meeting Monday.

Katz turned himself in to investigators and was transported to the Central Processing Unit.

Detectives are requesting that parents of children who may have had contact with Katz to talk to their children about any interaction with Katz and contact detectives at 240-773-5400 if they believe their child was victimized.

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Photo via MCPD