Parents say teacher sexually assaulted 12-year-old students at northeast Calgary school

Parents and students at a northeast Calgary school say a teacher sexually assaulted multiple students during an incident that occurred last week.

Both the Calgary police and the Calgary Board of Education are investigating.

Two Grade 7 studentsat the school toldCBCNews that on Thursday, they witnessed the teacher acting strangelybefore the first class of the day, around 8:25 a.m., when the group of four friends were standing around their lockers.

One girl described the teacher grabbing her, attempting to force her to drink some of his coffee before forciblykissing her on the cheek.

Both girls said they saw the teacher gropetwo of their friends' buttocks, and said that the teacher pulled one of the girls into his classroom alone.

Parents weren't initially notified

The girls reported the situation to the school, and say police were called in to interview them but the girls'parents say they weren't notified until after police had spoken to their daughters.

"She's not over 18, why are they not giving me a call first?" said one girl's mother.

She said she's angry and concerned for her daughter's safety.

"My daughter, she says to me, 'mom, I'm scared of going to school again.'"

The girls say they haven't seen the teacher at school since the incident happened.

"In any situation where there is concern for student or staff safety, an employee is removed from the workplace pending the outcome of all investigations," said the CBE in a statement to CBCNews.

The statement goes on to say that the board will co-operate with the Calgary Police Service if required and that no further comment would be made as the matter involves personnel.

Calgary police say they were called to Bob Edwards School around 11:10 a.m. on Oct. 25 for "a report of an incident involving a teacher."

"Charges have not yet been laid and the investigation is ongoing," reads a statement from police."The CPS cannot divulge any further information at this time."

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With files from Anis Heydari.