Woman Sues CPS, Claims Kindergartener Son Sexually Abused By Classmate
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Board of Education, claiming school officials failed to protect her son, after learning the kindergartener was being sexually abused by a classmate.
The mother, who identified herself only as "John Doe's Mother" to protect her child's privacy, claimed her son's teacher even embarrassed him in front of other students by accusing him of doing "nasty things" and threatening to cut off his penis.
According to the lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, the boy was 5 years old in January 2014, when a classmate sexually abused him in a restroom at Wendell Smith Elementary School in the Pullman neighborhood.
The lawsuit claims the kindergarten class has its own private restroom, but the boy's teacher regularly allows her students to use a different bathroom, intended for older students, without adult supervision.
According to the lawsuit, another school employee informed the principal he heard boys fighting in the restroom, and when he went in to investigate, he found John Doe and another boy "naked from the waist down."
John Doe's mother said, after she learned the specific acts the other student forced her son to perform, she informed the principal, who held a conference with the parents of both children. The principal also allegedly reported the incident to the students' teacher, the district, and the school board, but no action was taken to address the incident, or protect John Doe.
The lawsuit claims the boy was kept in the same class as the student who abused him, and other parents were not warned about the incident.
Further, the lawsuit claims John Doe was sexually abused at least two other times after the first incident, when he was allowed to go to the restroom with the other student without adult supervision. In one of the two later incidents, the other student's cousin – also a classmate in the kindergarten class – allegedly abused John Doe.
"The allegations in this case are particularly disturbing because school policymakers – who are supposed to be taking care of the young children in their care – failed to address a very serious situation when they were given the opportunity to do so," said attorney Jessica Arbour, who is representing the boy and his mother in the lawsuit. "Multiple incidents could have been prevented if officials weren't deliberately indifferent to the situation. Instead, conscious choices were made that continued to put this young boy and his classmates at grave risk."
John Doe's mother also accused her son's teacher of regularly embarrassing her son after the first incident, "by commenting in front of other students and even parents that he does 'nasty things' in the bathroom with other boys, and, on another occasion, threated to cut off his penis."
She also claimed school officials knew the boys who abused her son Before and after incident, two alleged abusers "regularly engaged in aggressive sexualized behavior with each other and with other students on school grounds and in plain view of the teacher, administrators, other students, and parents" before the abuse took place.
John Doe's mother claimed he has suffered "severe psychological and emotional injuries" as a result of the abuse, and accused the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Board of Education of acting "with deliberate indifference" by not reporting the incidents to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said: "Chicago Public Schools' top priority is the safety and well being of our students. We have not yet reviewed this lawsuit and do not comment on pending litigation."