Cover-up or Abuse of Trust

Is Superintendent Abell part of the cover-up, or is her trust being abused?

By Jeff Jobe, Community Publisher
Barren County Progress/JPI

Photo | Screengrab
In 2021, a student was physically assaulted twice by two different students in the Caverna Middle School. This still shot from one of the videos obtained by Jobe Publishing shows the younger boy cornered in a bathroom as another student crouches behind him, striking the boy multiple times.

Caverna Independent Schools is desperately attempting to navigate through years of cover-up from individuals, the school system as a whole, or some terrible abuses of trust.

The issues began to come to light because of a video the Barren County Progress (BCP) shared to our online readers after our Managing Editor Allyson Dix found it circulating on Facebook.

The video showed two high school students and an adult male assaulting another similarly aged student with a belt they stripped from him.

Since this time and because of the attention, Caverna Coach Terrence Miles submitted his resignation at the start of a meeting that would have otherwise resulted in him being fired. Now, Miles awaits his day in court to defend himself against felony charges.

There is no word as to the reprimanding of the abusing students other than being told it was handled in accordance with the school’s bullying policy.

We received numerous private messages from terrified parents alleging that this type of occurrence is more regular than one might think.

Two specific serious accusations arose and warranted the newspaper to pass along to authorities inside and outside of the school and to research their validity.

Trooper Island, July 29, 2024:  A foster parent of a student claimed she brought a witnessed sexual assault at Trooper Island on July 29, 2024, to the attention of social services and the school. Her son had witnessed it and was bothered, although scared to come forward as a witness.

She described two brothers (some identifying specifics withheld) holding down a socially awkward, smaller, weaker boy and inserting a pencil (now identified as a toothbrush holder) inside his rectum.

Her son claimed it had happened in the bathroom the night they went to Trooper Island. A field trip and overnight trip for Caverna athletes under the supervision of Coach Trevent Hayes. Her son explained this incident and 911 calls as the reason he was brought home very late on July 29, 2024, a day earlier than expected.

Caverna Middle School, 2021: A second group of messages centered around two individual videos shared with the BCP depicting a young, small boy being brutally beaten about the face, head, back and ribs. The two clear and up-close videos depicted two separate beatings by two different boys of the same boy.

Each boy in both of these separate videos was a much larger, athletic type of individual, knowingly allowing themselves to be recorded on video while beating the younger, smaller boy.

The mother wanted to make sure the two students beating the boy with the belt weren’t the same two who beat her son back in middle school.

Principal Frank Beauchamp confirmed they were not the same; however, he agreed with our concern for possible repeat offenses.

Beauchamp wouldn’t comment on the middle school incident other than, “It was investigated by the Hart County Attorney.”

Backstory on Middle School 2021: The mother of the boy brutally beaten claims other parents sent her details of videos their children had seen of her son being beaten on a social network called Snapchat.

She retrieved and copied the videos herself and shared them with the school, specifically Principal Frank Beauchamp, who indicated he was already aware of it and claimed that it was being taken seriously.

She said while waiting for any hint that the school was indeed taking it seriously, she watched as the two boys who beat her son never missed a game and even started the following weekend in a tournament for Caverna. Beauchamp and the school told the BCP they had no records of who may have played in those games.

Once realizing nothing was happening and her son, who had never had an issue in school, was now finding himself in trouble with teachers and being identified as a troublemaker; she notified the Hart County Attorney and moved her son to a new school to protect him.

Hart County Attorney Justin Baird confirmed the incident was not the same two boys involved with the belt beating. He could give no more specifics other than to say, “When dealing with underage individuals and first offenses, we typically strive to use it as an opportunity to encourage them to fix the behavior by placing them on probation.” He said a common probation period would be 6 months. He, too, agreed with the BCP that if it had been repeated abuses then it was indeed a more serious concern.

Evidence of one of the same boys involved in both middle school beating and sexual assault:  The BCP was now aware that two boys had beaten a socially awkward and much smaller boy in a Caverna middle school bathroom and a second parent claiming she reported an incident where two brothers (identifying details withheld) had sexually assaulted another socially awkward smaller boy while on a Caverna outing in a bathroom at Trooper Island.

It took weeks, but we finally found the actual boy alleged to have been sexually assaulted, and we made contact with his guardian.

She informed the BCP awhile back they were contacted by a gentleman named Ryan with Child Protective Services and Coach Hayes. She said they wanted to speak with her son regarding something he may have done to himself.

She felt there would be no threat to him so she approved the talks but heard nothing more of it. She has requested his file but has had no luck getting it as of press time.

The BCP shared what we had been told, and she asked him for the first time to tell her what happened at Trooper Island. The story he told her was much the same as the one shared with the newspaper, except it was not a pencil but rather a toothbrush case.

Caverna School Responses: Caverna Independent Schools responded to the Jobe Publishing published concerns with the following on August 17, 2025:

“Yes, there was an incident in 2021 in the Caverna Middle School boys’ restroom involving a physical altercation between multiple middle school students. This incident was recorded on video. Law enforcement was immediately notified, and a thorough investigation was conducted. As a result, two individuals involved in the incident were formally charged with assault.”

In response to this statement, the mother of the middle school victim wrote the following when reading the above: “Their statement is a complete lie. No one was immediately notified, and when law was notified it was by us over a week after. No formal investigation was done, and I hate that they are issuing statements full of lies to try and evade accountability.”

The videos provided to the BCP show no other altercations other than the one boy being assaulted.

Caverna: “Additionally, there was an incident at Trooper Island involving two brothers who had recently enrolled in our school system. These students became involved in physical aggression and fighting during the trip. Again, law enforcement was contacted and investigated. The two students were released into the custody of their mother. The individual identified as the physical aggressor was not allowed to return to the Caverna football program as a direct result of his actions.”

The BCP has no outside knowledge of this other than details on what unfolded that night from a meeting with Coach Hayes on May 15, 2025.

Caverna continued, “Regarding a third alleged incident in the article involving a pencil, we can confirm that this matter was never reported to Caverna Administration. Therefore, no investigation or disciplinary action has been taken at this time. We urge anyone with knowledge of this or any other incident to report it immediately to the proper authorities.”

This is not accurate, and the actual transcript clarifying from a May 15, 2025 meeting in which Hayes was made aware of other claims and he asked if we were referencing the pencil or toothbrush issue when discussing Trooper Island. At which time our editorial team responded, “Coach let us be clear, we are telling you what we were told on the record. A boy was held down, and a pencil was inserted.”

In this same meeting, Hayes said he was unaware of it until nearly two months later and when he learned of the incident from social services, he was told that the student did it to himself.

In a statement from Caverna Schools posted on Facebook, they write: “The incident at Trooper Island was investigated by the State Police.”

This is not true. The Kentucky State Police has confirmed they were never asked to investigate any sexual assault associated with Caverna at Trooper Island.

The guardian of the boy alleged to have been sexually assaulted said, “This is not true, no KSP officer ever spoke with us, only Coach Hayes and a social worker, and they never explained he was held down and this done to him.”

We now know at least one of the boys confirmed to have physically assaulted the middle school boy is one of the brothers alleged to have sexually assaulted the boy at Trooper Island.

On Monday, August 18, the BCP shared our concerns with Superintendent Amanda Abell regarding the false statements coming from the school and posted online from their Facebook account.

She was given a specific and quantitative list of statements and sources. We explained our concern for a cover-up from her office or abuses of trust that should be investigated on those providing her with information.

The most recent communication came in the form of a text message sent to parents and then later released to the press on Wednesday, August 20:

“Caverna Independent Schools has just received additional information regarding the alleged incident involving a pencil that was reported to have occurred on Trooper Island. We have now received information that the allegation was investigated by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services immediately following the Trooper Island incident and was determined to be unsubstantiated. However, with new information recently brought to our attention, specifically the identity of the student making the allegation, Caverna Administration has taken immediate action by reporting the matter to both the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and local law enforcement to ensure this incident is fully investigated.”

In the coming weeks, the BCP will continue to follow this investigation. It is our hope to empower all school officials, parents, and students being bullied by knowing their hometown newspaper stands with them in making sure we do all we can to assure bullies are held accountable.