Parents across DeSoto County protested Wednesday, Oct. 22, by keeping their children home from school. Parents said they are demanding accountability from district leaders after a school board member and several educators showed support for a convicted sex offender.
Former Hernando youth pastor Lindsey Whiteside pleaded guilty earlier this month to sexual battery of a minor. A DeSoto County judge sentenced her to three years of house arrest and seven additional years of supervised release.
For Katie Sasso, a mother of two students in the DeSoto County School District, keeping her children home had nothing to do with skipping class; it was about sending a clear message.
"There is a lot of upset and a lot of healing that needs to be done," Sasso said. "In order for that to be done, systematic change needs to happen," Sasso said. "It's not just the teachers who wrote letters or the assistant principal, it's the policies that allowed that to happen."
