Tad Cummins
Elizabeth Thomas
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A teacher now accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old female student in Tennessee had been investigated by the school system after another student reported seeing the teacher kiss the girl, a lawyer for the missing girl’s family said.
Yet according to attorney Jason Whatley and school records, teacher Tad Cummins was allowed to continue working at Tennessee’s Culleoka Unit School for two weeks. Culleoka is a community about 60 miles south of Nashville near the state line with Alabama.
Student Elizabeth Thomas was last seen March 13 and is believed to be with the 50-year-old teacher, authorities said.
In late January another student saw the teacher kissing the girl on the lips, school records provided to the AP from Whatley show.
Despite the report from the other student, Cummins was allowed to continue teaching and nobody in the school system bothered notifying the girl’s family about the allegations about the kiss, Whatley added. He said the school system must have not believed the student’s report of seeing Cummins kiss the girl on the lips.