A Kansas City family has sued Pembroke Hill School and former teacher Michael Jones, alleging the elite private school ignored repeated warnings about Jones before he groomed and sexually abused their then 9-year-old daughter during her fourth-grade year. The girl, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, was a student in Jones's class during the 2021-2022 school year, and her family says the abuse continued on campus throughout that academic year.
The civil complaint, filed Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court by national law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, accuses the school of negligence, negligent hiring and retention, negligent supervision, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and battery. As reported by the Kansas City Star, the lawsuit accuses Pembroke Hill of negligently failing to properly investigate Jones despite warnings about his alleged misconduct before he ever set foot in a Pembroke Hill classroom.
Court filings say a parent from Jones's previous employer warned Pembroke Hill leadership on at least two separate occasions before Jones was hired that he had faced sexual misconduct allegations involving multiple elementary school girls. Pembroke Hill hired Jones anyway, according to the filing, and the complaint claims the school later received additional reports of misconduct involving other students and teachers after he joined the faculty.
Who's Behind the Lawsuit
The plaintiff's legal team is co-led by Christine Dunn, managing partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight's Washington, D.C. office and co-chair of its Sexual Violence, Title IX, and Victims' Rights Practice Group, along with associate Jillian Seymour and local Kansas City counsel Jarrett Johnson of McGonagle Johnson. Dunn said her clients are heartbroken over what happened and said Pembroke Hill did not heed the warnings it received about Jones before hiring him, according to the same account.
Bellis served as Pembroke Hill's headmaster for 12 years, according to the Johnson County Post. He announced in 2017 that he would leave at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, and current Head of School Brad Shelley took over in 2019 — years before Jane Doe entered Jones's classroom.
Alleged Grooming and a Girl's Unraveling
According to the Kansas City Star, Jones allegedly touched Jane Doe's back, shoulders, legs, thighs and breasts, discussed sexual topics and his sex life with her, and gave her disproportionate attention, isolating her for tutoring and lunch. He allegedly gave her a book without her parents' knowledge, writing inside it that she was “good, special, lovely, and beautiful,” per the Star's reporting.
The paper reports Jane Doe's mental health declined and worsened after the alleged abuse, and that she attempted suicide for the first time in sixth grade. Her parents later removed her from Pembroke Hill. The available reports do not provide further details about her later treatment.
Jane Doe's parents learned of the allegations in late 2024, and Jane Doe disclosed the alleged abuse to a therapist after that point, according to the Star. Pembroke Hill placed Jones on administrative leave in 2024, and he resigned from the school in early 2025.
School Points to 'Unsubstantiated' Findings
Pembroke Hill has said its 2024 internal investigation and a review by the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division found the abuse allegations unsubstantiated, per the Star's reporting. The available reports do not address the legal effect of that finding in a civil case.
Missouri law also places strict obligations on school employees. Under Missouri Revised Statutes § 210.115, teachers, principals and school officials are mandatory reporters required to immediately notify state authorities upon finding reasonable cause to suspect child abuse, and the law explicitly bars administrators from delaying a report to conduct an internal investigation first. A mandated reporter who fails to report suspected abuse directly to the Children's Division can face a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to guidance published by Lincoln University.
A Second Lawsuit and a Pattern at a Prior School
Jones is not named as a defendant in a separate lawsuit filed by a former Pembroke Hill faculty assistant, who alleges Jones sexually harassed her from 2022 to 2024 and is suing the school itself for gender discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation. That plaintiff has requested a jury trial and is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory and economic damages, and attorneys' fees and costs.
Before joining Pembroke Hill, Jones taught at another Kansas City school. Allegations involving multiple female students at that school were followed by his resignation, the outlet reports.
Pembroke Hill is a private preparatory school in Kansas City. The available sources do not state its tuition for the 2026-2027 school year. This is not the school's only recent brush with litigation involving its leadership — Pembroke Hill and Shelley were previously named as co-defendants in a separate federal breach-of-contract suit, filed in February 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
A case management conference next month is scheduled in the former faculty assistant's lawsuit. The available reports do not mention a Jackson County prosecutorial review of mandatory-reporting compliance or a separate criminal inquiry.
