Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Federal lawsuit claim: Former East Newton superintendent's inaction led to sexual assault of eighth grade girl

A lawsuit filed this week in U. S. District Court for Kansas claims former East Newton High School superintendent and Carthage Columbian Elementary Principal Jim Hinson failed to take steps that would have prevented a Shawnee Mission middle school student from being sexually assaulted by a boy in a study hall class.

Hinson was superintendent at Shawnee Mission in May when the attack occurred, according to the lawsuit, which claims that he and other officials failed to take action against the girl's attacker though he had been investigated three times for similar assaults.

The assault was described in the petition:

On May 1, 2017, Plaintiff was assigned to study hall in a classroom at Westridge Middle School, along with other students. Two teachers were assigned to supervise Plaintiff’s study hall classroom. During study hall, Plaintiff was seated next to a male student (“the perpetrator”). 

While sitting in the study hall classroom, the perpetrator forcibly put his hands down Plaintiff’s pants and penetrated her, entirely against Plaintiff’s will. As the perpetrator was forcing himself onto Plaintiff, Plaintiff was shocked and frightened. Plaintiff froze and was unable to immediately react. 

Two teachers were in the room at the same time that the perpetrator sexually assaulted Plaintiff. The teachers overseeing the study hall had the duty and responsibility to carefully and properly supervise the students and protect their safety and protect Plaintiff and other students from an unreasonable risk of harm such as the type of harm that occurred to Plaintiff as alleged herein. 

Between May 1, 2017 and May 3, 2017, school officials were made aware of the perpetrator’s sexual assault of Plaintiff. The School Resource Officer (“SRO”), Officer Harrison, who at all times relevant to the allegations herein was a full-time law enforcement official stationed at Westridge Middle School, was made aware of the sexual assault and took Plaintiff’s statement regarding the event. 

As part of the SRO’s investigation of the sexual assault of Plaintiff, he gathered the school records of the perpetrator. In the perpetrator’s school records, the SRO located reports of three prior incidents where female students complained that the perpetrator had sexually assaulted them in a manner similar to the assault Plaintiff endured. 

Westridge Middle School had received all three complaints prior to December 2016, and before Plaintiff was assaulted. Defendant District was aware of the three previous sexual assault allegations against the perpetrator, but chose not to report them to law enforcement authorities. 

Eventually, the male perpetrator was issued a ten-day suspension, but was permitted to apply non-school days occurring during spring break to apply toward his ten days of suspension. Plaintiff was previously suspended for an unrelated event, and Plaintiff was not permitted to apply non-school days toward her total number of days of suspension. The male perpetrator was given preferential treatment in that manner. 

Since Plaintiff initially reported the assault and harassment, she has had trouble talking about the assault due to feelings of shame and fear. To date, Defendants have not offered counseling or any other type of mental health services to Plaintiff. 

As a result of the harassment and assault Plaintiff experienced, and Defendants’ failure to prevent the assault and otherwise take appropriate remedial actions to address the assault and assist Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s grades have suffered among other damages Plaintiff has experienced. 

 Defendants Hinson, McDonnell, Peters and Denny failed to take steps to prevent or address the harm to Plaintiff, including but not limited to, fully investigating complaints of the perpetrator’s similar assaults on other female students; preventing the perpetrator from assaulting additional students, including Plaintiff, by removing him from the school; educating faculty and students about District policies and procedures to prevent and address sexual assault such as the District’s anti-harassment policies; and training faculty and students to prevent sexual assaults and sexual contact between students in the future.

Defendants not only failed to properly address, investigate, and remedy the prior incidents of sexual assault by the perpetrator, but thereby also fostered and promoted the additional assault of Plaintiff by the same perpetrator.

Hinson, the school district, Westridge Middle School Principal Jeremy McDonnell, Assistant Principal Jade Peters, and school board member Craig Denny, who represents the area where the middle school is located, are listed as defendants.




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