On days when we think the world can’t get any stranger, it always does. The parents of three students at an Indiana elementary school filed a tort claim with a strange allegation. They allege a veteran kindergarten teacher at New Britton Elementary School in Fishers had her students rub her feet, play with her hair, and massage her neck as a reward. The school district reportedly put the teacher on paid leave while officials investigated. Shockingly, she was back in the classroom less than two weeks later. The families’ attorney called foul on the district’s “zero tolerance” policy. They want teachers held to the same standard as students.
Fox 59 reported that the parents of three girls filed a tort claim against Hamilton Southeastern Schools. They reportedly learned of the classroom massages after their children discussed them in October 2025. One family said their daughter told them she was “massaging [my teacher], and it’s really fun.” The families contacted the school and requested a meeting with the administration to discuss the allegations.
Per the tort claim, the families got in touch with the Indiana Department of Child Services shortly after contacting the school. During a meeting, administrators told the parents they placed the teacher on leave while they investigated the claims. Just 12 days later, she was back in the classroom because they could not “substantiate” the children’s accusations.
“When schools do this — reassign staff accused of misconduct — it’s called ‘passing the trash’,” the girls’ lawyer, Tom Blessing, wrote in the tort claim, per Fox 59. “It doesn’t solve the problem, it just moves it somewhere else.”
The DCS investigation had very different findings, the outlet reported. Officials reported finding evidence of the teacher having girls rub her head, neck, and feet, and asking things like “Who gets to be my masseuse?” and “Where did my masseuse go?”
Blessing blasted the district’s no-tolerance policy and wants teachers held to the same standards. “Why isn’t there zero tolerance for teachers grooming students?” He added that the teacher also seems to be benefiting from an unfair double standard.
“This situation would have been handled differently if the teacher was a male,” he wrote, per the outlet. “But because she’s a woman, the district is pretending it never happened, trying to minimize it and cover it up.”
The story shocked the community, which could not believe a teacher would put herself or her students in such a precarious situation.
“When I was growing up we were allowed to go out and clean the chalk from erasers. When I was teaching I rewarded students’ good behavior by letting them sit next to a friend,” a shocked former teacher wrote on a social media post made by WISH. “This is weird.”
“Yeah…. Think I’ll keep homeschooling. Even on the hardest days, it’s still better than the number of tables I would have to flip with the crap going on in schools,” a mom wrote.
“Now why the hell would you do this?” someone else bluntly asked.
We can’t imagine what we would do if our kids came home and said they gave their teacher a foot massage at school. According to the tort claim, these parents want a public apology, monetary compensation, and disciplinary action. That seems like the very least they can do if these allegations are true.
