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A lawsuit filed Tuesday against a Christian school in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 alleges it knowingly allowed a teacher with 鈥渄ecades-long allegations鈥� of sexual abuse to continue teaching and interacting with students.

In July, 66-year-old Kelly McEachran, a former Hope Christian teacher, was indicted on criminal sexual penetration of a minor and seven counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor.

The alleged victims are two girls, both under the age of 13, whom McEachran taught at Hope Christian School. The alleged abuse occurred at different periods, between 2016-2017 and 2024-2025.

The lawsuit filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, the second to be filed against Hope Christian in the past month, lists the school, McEachran, Head of School Terry Heisey and Principal Robyn Taylor as defendants. The plaintiff is listed as 鈥淎.D., as next friend to L.D., a minor.鈥�

According to the lawsuit, administrators at Hope Christian School, which has campuses in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 from elementary to high school, knew about the teacher鈥檚 prior sexual misconduct allegations and continued to allow him to teach middle school students.

鈥淗ope Christian was aware of numerous additional allegations of sexual impropriety against McEachran and his conduct with Hope Christian students dating back to at least 1996, yet it did nothing to address them,鈥� the lawsuit states.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that McEachran would regularly demean his students, calling them names like 鈥渋diots, morons, homos and losers.鈥�

A spokesperson for Hope Christian said they were saddened and concerned to learn about the allegations against McEachran, but they will fully cooperate with law enforcement.

鈥淎ny behavior that compromises the safety, dignity or wellbeing of a student stands in direct opposition to everything we believe in,鈥� Megan Yocum, spokesperson for Hope Christian, wrote in a statement Friday.

The lawsuit states that the prosecutor handling McEachran鈥檚 criminal case said in open court that Hope Christian 鈥渉asn鈥檛 been necessarily transparent鈥� with law enforcement investigations.

McEachran does not currently have an attorney for the pending lawsuit. Christopher Dodd, lawyer for McEachran in the criminal case, denied all allegations against his client.

Police were first dispatched to reports of child abuse at Hope Christian on April 7.

An 11-year-old told detectives the alleged abuse went on for several months during the past school year, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. The girl told police McEachran sexually abused her 鈥渕ultiple times a week.鈥�

McEachran was put on administrative leave in April, the same day police arrived, but he was still allowed to 鈥渉ave a presence at the school,鈥� according to the lawsuit. He continued to grade assignments, left gifts for students including candy and T-shirts and attended athletic events for the school.

The lawsuit alleges McEachran resigned rather than Hope Christian firing him.

Prosecutors filed a pretrial detention motion to keep McEachran behind bars until his trial. In his response, Dodd said there was no evidence McEachran posed a threat to anyone by being released from jail.

鈥淭hese accusations are not supported by any evidence except for the statements of the two students,鈥� Dodd wrote in his response. 鈥淎nd yet, McEachran sits in jail pursuant to a decision that is supposed to be 鈥榯he carefully limited exception.鈥欌��

McEachran was arrested in Idaho by U.S. Marshals in June.

Dodd previously told the Journal he was on vacation and was in the process of turning himself in when he was arrested. Other students have also called the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department with information about more potential victims.

An indictment was filed after his arrest, charging him in the alleged abuse of the second girl during the 2016-2017 school year. In that indictment, McEachran was also charged with 11 charges for allegedly patronizing prostitutes from Oct. 2024 to April 2025.

Earlier this month, another lawsuit was filed from a former student 鈥� identified as B.L. 鈥� who alleged McEachran sexually harassed her in 1994 when he was her substitute teacher. That lawsuit alleges that 鈥渓ike other child predators, Defendant McEachran exhibited gradual grooming behaviors in an attempt to gain Plaintiff鈥檚 trust and desensitize her to boundaries.鈥�

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Tuesday claim that Hope Christian continuously protected McEachran amid his sexual abuse allegations. The lawsuit alleges McEachran was friends with head of the school, Heisey, and he was not properly reprimanded because of the friendship.

When the student鈥檚 parents emailed Heisey to address the allegations, he deflected questions, the lawsuit alleges.

鈥淒o you know if this will be public?鈥� Heisey asked the victim鈥檚 parents, according to the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs of the lawsuit are seeking punitive damages as well as accountability from the school.

鈥淥ur client seeks accountability for Hope Christian and its administrators betraying their responsibility to protect students from sexual abuse and desires to create lasting change to prevent future harm,鈥� Larissa Lozano, attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement.