Courthouse News Service has reported that the parents of a boy that was a victim of a brutal beating, has filed a lawsuit against the teacher that ignored the attack and the governing school board, because the boy continues to suffer from the incident.
The boy, a middle schooler, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He is currently on medication. The initial attack occurred over a year ago.
The boy’s mother, Melissa J., claims that her son was “punched, kneed in the stomach and finally stripped of his clothes and photographed by four older students” in full view of his middle school teacher. The teacher, W.W., then “without saying a word or lifting a finger to intervene ... went back into his office and closed the door.”
The incident occurred on a Volusia County middle school campus. The child was then moved to another campus, in the same district, where he was allegedly further victimized.
Named in the suit are the Volusia County School Board and W.W. The suit was filed in the Volusia County Court. Melissa J. stated in the suit that while her son was in the boy’s locker room of Holly Hill Middle School his classmates not only attacked him, but W.W. “did nothing to stop it.”
Melissa J. further alleges, “(W.W.), after hearing (her son's) cries and the screams of other children witnessing the attack, interrupted his Internet session on his School Board computer to stand at the door of his office and observe the incident...”
After the beating, and the class ended, her son “somehow made his way to the next class where he rolled into a fetal position in the corner, crying uncontrollably.” At this time Melissa J. was alerted to her son’s attack. The suit states, “Finally, plaintiff was called to the school, the authorities were contacted, and two of the attackers were arrested and prosecuted.”
Melissa J. said that three weeks following the incident, and “after a limited School Board investigation”, W.W. “resigned from his employment with the School Board and received no punishment regarding this incident.”
Melissa J. asked the school board to allow her son to be transferred to another middle school in the district. The request was approved and the boy was registered at Campbell Middle School.
Melissa J. believed that moving her child from one school and into a new one would protect him from further harm. Instead, “within weeks” he “was again attacked, this time in the cafeteria by a student who had attacked a student earlier in the day, but was allowed to stay on campus rather than being suspended.”
Melissa J. has since removed the boy from public school all together – at this time he is being home-schooled.
She said that her boy “has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, hospitalized multiple times, prescribed antidepressants and has been under almost constant mental, emotional and behavioral therapy.”
Orlando-based attorney Ernest DeLoach Jr. is representing Melissa J. She is seeking damages for negligence as well as vicarious liability.
A child’s welfare is the prime concern of a parent, and it should be the same concern of a public school. If your child has been injured while on school grounds contact a personal injury lawyer to file a lawsuit right away!