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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