The assistant principal of a Florida middle school was arrested this week after witnesses came forward saying that she forced a 13-year-old male student to rub her feet ‘like he loved her.’
Dr. Keiva Lark, 53, demanded the foot rub from the boy after he was sent to her office at Lake Marion Creek Middle School for throwing a ball of paper in his classroom during a test, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Lark put her feet in the boy’s lap and told him to rub them because ‘he didn’t have anything better to do with his hands,’ the victim and two witnesses told police.
The middle-aged teacher then allegedly scolded the boy for not doing it properly before demonstrating the ‘correct’ way by massaging his arm and shoulder.
Lark is also accused of telling the victim she was doing this to teach him what ‘foreplay’ was for when he got a girlfriend.
Several days later, Lark admitted to a co-worker that she had ‘crossed the line,’ the co-worker told police.
The investigation into Lark’s conduct began on April 4, after the principal of the school reported the allegations to police.
When the boy was interviewed by detectives, he revealed that her sickening nickname for him was ‘sexy chocolate.’ Lark allegedly called him this while passing him in the hallway.
Dr. Keiva Lark, a 53-year-old assistant principal at middle school, was arrested after she allegedly forced a 13-year-old boy to rub her feet in her office
Witnesses said she plopped her feet down on the boy’s lap and commanded him to rub them
‘Dr. Lark initially told detectives that this was only a joke, and that she was just trying to humble the victim,’ Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
‘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,’ Judd concluded.
Lark later admitted her conduct was inappropriate for her job but ‘denied saying anything inappropriate to the victim,’ police said.
Superintendent Frederick Heid of Polk County Public Schools commended the principal for ‘immediately’ reporting the alleged inappropriate touching.
‘This is abhorrent behavior for anyone who works among students, especially an administrator. This person no longer has any business being around children,’ Heid said.
Sheriff Judd also made the unorthodox choice of addressing the case against Lark in a video posted to the police department’s social media pages.
In the vertical video, he opens by showing off his translucent coffee mug with the words ‘go directly to jail’ on it.
‘A lady gave me this cup last week and said, “You’ve got to use it,”‘ he said while grinning into the camera. ‘And this is a great day to use it.’
Sheriff Grady Judd is pictured with his ‘go directly to jail’ coffee mug in a video he posted explaining the charges against Lark
Lark faces two second-degree felonies involving lewd offenses with a child, Judd said
He went into the entire chain of events with Lark and the boy, before summing it up by saying, ‘She did the nasty with a 13-year-old child. A little boy. Oh yeah, it gets worse.’
He also made sure to clarify that Lark is ‘not a podiatrist’ before he talked about the alleged foot rub.
The sheriff explained the charges against her, which include Lewd/Lascivious Conduct and a Lewd Offense against a Student by an Authority Figure. Both are second-degree felonies.
His parting insult to the assistant principal appeared like a saving grace at first.
‘The good news for her is there’s no enhancement or upgrade of the charge if you have toe jam. Have a good day,’ he said.
Lark’s arrest comes as bizarre video emerged of her singing altered versions of Christmas carols through a megaphone to encourage students to get to class.
‘Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up boys and girls! Go to class!’ went her rendition of the classic song ‘Sleigh Ride.’
