The lawsuit alleges that four students took turns forcibly penetrating a female third-grade student in a bathroom stall, preventing her from escaping and receiving a one-day suspension. Oregon Live reported.
The lawsuit alleges that officials at Portland Public Schools and a Multnomah County-sponsored after-school program run by the nonprofit organization Latino Network failed to protect the then-9-year-old girl from sexual assault. the paper pointed out.
The girl’s family filed the lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court last month. Oregon Live announced that she is seeking up to $9 million in damages, citing her negligence, lack of supervision and failure to protect vulnerable people from abuse.
What are the details?
The student was a third-grader at Scott Elementary School in northeast Portland in 2022 when one of his classmates touched his genitals over his clothes without his permission during a class supervised by a district educator, the newspaper reported. It is said that
In another incident from the same school year, the complaint states that another student tried to kiss the girl without her permission, and the girl punched him to protect herself, Oregon Live reported.
The complaint states that both students were suspended from school, and the school told the girl’s father that it would create a “safety plan” for her, the newspaper noted. .
More from OregonLive:
However, in another incident in April of the same year, two other students in the School Uniting Neighborhood (SUN) after-school program told the girl that if she did not speak up after the incident, “we would find out where she lived.” the complaint alleges. -The school program staff said she needed to go to the bathroom.
She did so, and the students followed her, locked her in a cubicle, removed her pants, and took turns forcibly penetrating her as she protested, according to the complaint. According to her complaint, her suspects who assaulted her took turns blocking the door to her private room, so she was unable to escape.
The newspaper said the father of one of the boys involved heard about the incident and reported it to school officials.
But instead of calling police, “PPS staff conducted their own internal investigation” and questioned the girl without immediately notifying her family or legal representatives, Oregon Live reported, citing the lawsuit.
Additionally, the complaint said the alleged perpetrators were suspended for one day, the newspaper said.
Six days after the incident, the plaintiff’s father brought his daughter to Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel for a medical evaluation, Oregon Live reported, citing court documents. A week later, CARES Northwest, a child abuse evaluation program, listened to the girl’s story and concluded that “her provided history was highly concerning for sexual abuse,” the outlet said, citing the lawsuit. said.
Oregon Live said the girl’s father immediately transferred her and her brother to a school in another district, according to the complaint, adding that the process took a month and disrupted their education. Additionally, the girl is dealing with trauma, pain, suffering, social anxiety and setbacks in her academic career, the outlet said, citing her lawsuit.
According to Oregon Live, the lawsuit alleges that Portland Public Schools and SUN program affiliates failed to teach students about sexual boundaries and failed to enforce rules regarding sexual conduct on school grounds. The charges are said to be for failing to communicate with other adult guardians regarding the plaintiff’s background and safety concerns, Oregon Live reported. .
“The district learned of the new allegations when we received the lawsuit last week and is investigating,” Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Sidney Kelly said in a statement. “We are mandatory reporters, which means we must report any possible cases of child abuse or neglect. We take our responsibilities as mandatory reporters seriously and I will obey the law.”
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