KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last week, KSHB 41 News first reported that the president of Bishop Miege High School, Phil Baniewicz, was placed on leave effective June 5.
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas noted recent reports concerning Baniewicz's "ability to oversee a safe environment" for the school.
KSHB 41 shared the voice of a former student who complained about Baniewicz about a week before he was put on leave.
Taylor Kelsey's complaint was centered at Maur Hill-Mount Academy, a Catholic boarding school in Atchison, where Baniewicz was president before Miege.
"I think he has clouded judgment and I question his ability to run a school," Kelsey told KSHB 41 investigative reporter Sarah Plake in an interview on June 6.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Sarah Plake
Banewicz has been the subject of past child sexual abuse allegations in a civil lawsuit for which he has never been charged.
KSHB 41 first reported on community concerns following his hiring at Miege in 2023.
We learned that Kelsey is not the first Maur Hill alumna to submit complaints about Baniewicz's behavior that they felt was inappropriate and boundary-blurring.
"I'm still to this day unpacking the effect it's had on me," Parker Valdez said, who attended Maur Hill from 2016 to 2018.
Valdez first sent a letter to the Archdiocese in 2023. Once she learned Baniewicz was placed on leave, she sent the complaint again, which she also shared with the I-Team.
Parker wanted them to know about a time on her 17th birthday, when she recalled Baniewicz pulling her from class for a closed-door one-on-one meeting. It's similar to what Kelsey described.
"He led me to his office under the guise of having a conversation about wanting to chat regarding how I was adjusting to the school," Valdez said.
She told us about a conversation that quickly turned into who she was dating and sexual activity, which is also detailed in the original complaint letter she sent to the Archdiocese.
"He wanted to know intimate details - graphic details - about if I had sexual encounters," Valdez said.
Valdez was dating a classmate at the time and told us she'd only been on three dates with the boy, all of which were chaperoned by a parent.
Valdez said she insisted to Baniewicz that nothing else happened and recalls the conversation took another turn.
"He told me, this is a direct quote, that 'everyone' thinks that 'I'm a loose, party girl whore,'" Valdez said.
She said Baniewicz went on to tell her she had "certain desirable qualities" that could "lead her brothers in Christ into temptation."
She remembers Baniewicz framed the conversation as a "dad talk," but felt confused about why he would say those things.
She said she left that meeting crying and traumatized, similar to how Kelsey told us she felt after Baniewicz lectured her about purity and shame.
"I feel like my experience, as well as others that have come forward, really speaks to a pattern of troubling behavior from Baniewicz," Valdez said. "And it speaks to his unfitness to lead a productive and safe environment for youth."
Back in 2023, Valdez sent her complaint letter directly to former Archbishop Joseph Naumann, and says nothing happened.
"It's hurtful they didn't even dignify my experience with a response," Valdez said. "I never heard a peep."
The Archdiocese previously told us they would not share additional details about the investigation until it's completed.
Valdez said she wishes the Archdiocese had responded to her two years ago, but is glad they're taking action now.
"I would assume it's a PR nightmare and they've been forced to take action," Valdez said of the Archdiocese. "It's sad and unfortunate that it's come to that."
Valdez said one of the directors with the Archdiocese's Office for Protection and Care called her this week, who told her more conversations are forthcoming.
Both Valdez and Kelsey graduated from high school nearly a decade ago, but said they're still processing their interactions with Baniewicz. They're both mothers of small children and are speaking out with them in mind.
"I am now a mother of two, I have my own kids, and I can't ever imagine a circumstance where that would be found even remotely acceptable, let alone coming from an authority figure at a school," Valdez said.
Kelsey said that as she's sending her oldest into kindergarten and will have to trust the teachers caring for her child, she recently started revisiting her memories at Maur Hill.
"It took me a little bit, but I knew I needed to say something," Kelsey said.
KSHB 41 has talked to other women who attended Maur Hill when Baniewicz was there, and they corroborated Kelsey and Valdez's experience, and even told us about their own.
Kelsey said Baniewicz called her two days after she sent her complaint at the end of May.
"I was expecting a 913 call from the Archdiocese, and I answered it, and it was Phil himself," Kelsey said.
She said Baniewicz denied her allegations that he shamed her about purity and sex while she was a student.
"I shouldn't have to be the one telling anybody that after there's been a victim outcry, that the person accused [doesn't call] the victim," Kelsey said.
KSHB 41 asked Miege and the Archdiocese about that call, but Miege deferred all questions to the Archdiocese.
The Archdiocese already told us they wouldn't comment further on the details of the investigation.
We also reached out to St. Benedict's Abbey and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, both of which sponsor Maur Hill.
St. Benedict's Abbey has not responded.
A spokesperson for Mount St. Scholastica said, "Since there is an investigation underway, we won't be making public comments on Mr. Baniewicz at this time."
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