CPS Settles With Families Who Say Students Were Sexually Assaulted, Including 2 Disabled Boys At Bogan High School
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It keeps happening – allegations of vulnerable students being sexually assaulted at Chicago Public Schools.
Now, three settlements have been issued to the families of the victims – one of them alone amounting to $1 million.
In one disturbing case we have been following for a while now, a mother and father said their 15-year-old developmentally disabled son was raped at least twice in the bathroom at William J. Bogan Computer Technical High School, 3939 W. 79th St. His attacker, they believe, was another teen at the school.
"This shouldn't have happened in a high school with special needs kids - or any kid," the boy's father told CBS 2's Irika Sargent this month.
The mother and father said they have been fighting Chicago Public Schools for years to get justice for their developmentally disabled son and others. They spoke on camera exclusively with Sargent, while concealing their identities.
The parents said the boy who attacked their son was also disabled, and had a history of sexual misconduct.
"How the heck did that happen, in school?" the boy's mother said. "I mean, no one was watching."
"Yeah, we'd thought he'd be safe in school, you know?" his father added.
The parents said CSP tried to cover it up, and even blamed their son.
"I think was the most shocking was when the lawyer for CPS said, 'Do you know what gay means?' When she started to go there," the boy's mother said. "And then to say that: 'Well, do you think it's wrong to be gay? Did your parents tell you it was wrong?'"
So the parents sued, and on Wednesday, their attorney, Carolyn Daley, said CPS agreed to a settlement with them right before jury selection was to begin for a civil trial.
CPS also agreed to a settlement with another mother who said her disabled son was sexually assaulted by the same boy at Bogan High.
"He told me he was hurt. 'I'm hurt'," that child's mother told us for a 2018 story, "and he mentioned blood. I mean, I went crazy."
Now, both families say in a statement that on top of the settlement, they "hope CPS addresses this to prevent it from happening again."
This all comes just weeks after CPS agreed to settle a similar case of a boy at Jordan Community Elementary School in Rogers Park for $1 million.
On the $1 million settlement from Jordan Elementary, CPS said, "The settlement agreement resolves the matter in a way that is fair to the student and to the taxpayers who fund the District."
We were still waiting late Wednesday to find out more details on the two settlements involving students at Bogan. They will be up for approval by the Board of Education next month.
