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Accused of rape, the Boynton Beach elementary school teacher denies the allegations

The Palm Beach County School District fired the teacher from Sunset Palms Elementary after a former student accused him of rape.

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Editor's note: This story contains descriptions of child sexual abuse that readers may find disturbing.

WEST PALM BEACH — After school administrators welcomed a teacher accused of rape back to campus, his teenage accuser sued those who hired him in the first place.

In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the girl accused the Palm Beach County School Board of bringing danger into its halls when it hired Dax Rankine, a man whose criminal record once led the Florida Board of Education to reject his application for a teaching license .

The lawsuit revives rape allegations that the child, now a ninth-grader, first reported to school police in 2023.

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The girl said then and now that Rankine, a physical education teacher at Sunset Palms Elementary School in suburban Boynton Beach, groomed and raped her between the second and fourth grades. She said the abuse ended in 2020 after the spread of COVID-19 forced the halt to in-person classes.

Rankine, 47, started working at Sunset Palms in 2012. He was cleared of wrongdoing by school officials but was removed from campus this month amid the lawsuit and has denied the allegations through his attorney. The school district generally does not comment on open legal disputes.

Citing a lack of evidence, school officials deemed the claims unfounded

In her lawsuit, the student said she had known Rankine since she was a child. Even then, she said, she found him to be “touchy” and was often too close to him for comfort.

The child, identified in the lawsuit as Janie Doe, said Rankine began touching her breasts and inner thighs under the guise of helping her stretch for gym class in second and third grade. Doe said the abuse escalated in fourth grade when Rankine cornered her in the campus restrooms and raped her twice.

Both times, Doe said Rankine told her she would “get in trouble” if she told anyone what happened. She first made the allegations during a therapy session in 2023, which led to investigations by school and state authorities.

According to public records, no one has been able to verify her account.

The school district placed Rankine on paid leave in November 2023 while it conducted a months-long investigation into the allegations. Rankine issued a statement through his lawyers denying any wrongdoing but declined the school's invitation for a voluntary interview.

Doe's mother also rebuffed numerous attempts by school investigators to interview her daughter, according to emails in Rankine's personnel file.

The mother said her daughter, who submitted the same report to both police and a Florida Department of Children and Families official, did not want to submit to a third round of questioning.

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When told that the school could not rely on interviews from other agencies, she again declined.

“Are you saying that the school board refuses to investigate based on your two previous statements?” the mother wrote in February. “Will this school board allow this pedophile to remain in contact with children?”

Rankine remained on paid leave while the school investigated the allegations, without involvement from either the accuser or the defendant. Sunset Palms principal Karen Riddle filed an affidavit in April vouching for Rankine's work ethic.

“He has always been a great teacher and is great at supervising,” she said. “I could always trust him with safety. There were never any problems.”

The following month, the school deemed Doe's allegations unfounded.

At the end of a separate investigation, school police recommended that Rankine be charged with sexual assault of a person under 12, a crime for which perpetrators can be sentenced to death or life in prison. State prosecutors declined to move forward with the charges, citing a lack of evidence.

Still, Sunset Palms' principal told parents in an email days after the lawsuit was filed that Rankine had been removed from campus and would not be returning.

The Palm Beach County school board is accused of turning a blind eye to the alleged perpetrator

Doe accuses the Palm Beach County School Board of willfully ignoring Rankine's criminal history, which includes arrests for hit-and-run, simple assault, driving under the influence and drug possession.

Doe's attorney, Marc Wites, argued in the lawsuit that that history alone should have prevented the district from hiring Rankine in the first place. It initially blocked the state licensing board from approving Rankine's teaching application, although Rankine successfully appealed its decision.

“The family and parent community who have children at this school are very disappointed not only that this teacher was even at the school based on his public record of prior arrests that make him unfit to be a teacher, but that the school removed him from the classroom a year after our client came forward,” Wites said Monday.

Doe has requested a jury trial, and U.S. District Court Judge Robin Rosenberg will preside over the case. No trial date has been set.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, the Palm Beach County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center can help. You can reach the hotline at 561-833-7273 or toll-free at 866-891-7273.

Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [email protected]. Support our journalism and subscribe today.

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