A Portland, Oregon public school district, nonprofit Latino Network, and Multnomah County are each involved in a lawsuit alleging their failure to protect a nine-year-old rape survivor.
A Portland, Oregon public school district, nonprofit Latino Network, and Multnomah County are each involved in a lawsuit alleging their failure to protect a nine-year-old rape survivor.
According to the suit, the family of the young girl is seeking $9 million in damages for “negligence, lack of oversight and failure to protect a vulnerable person from abuse.” The Scott Elementary School third-grader was sexually assaulted numerous times during school hours and at an after school care program.
The girl’s classmate allegedly touched her genitals during a class taught by a district educator. Another incident included a different student’s attempt to kiss the girl against her will. She hit the student in the face as an act of self defense, and both children were suspended.
Following both incidents, Scott Elementary School claimed that they would issue a “safety plan” for the third-grader.
However, soon after this statement, two male classmates kissed the girl without her permission. This event occurred at the after-school program, Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Community Schools, operated by the Latino Network at the elementary school. The male students coerced her into the bathroom, stating that if she did not comply, “they would find out where she lived.”
In the school bathroom, the boys locked themselves into a stall with the nine-year-old and each raped her multiple times. As she cried out and attempted to exit the stall, her assaulters blocked the door.
Scott Elementary School was notified of the incident after one of the boys confessed to his father. The school did not notify police first: instead, they took matters into their own hands and conducted an “internal investigation,” interviewing the survivor without notifying her legal guardians about the abuse.
Shortly thereafter, the young girl’s father learned about the incident. Upon contacting the elementary school, he was told that the two boys would remain enrolled. Allegedly, they created a “safety plan,” which included allocating separate lunch periods for the assaulters and the survivor.
The institution’s “safety proposal and response was inadequate,” the father stated after transferring his daughter and her younger brother to another PPS school. The children were out of school during the month-long process, while the assaulters remained in school after a one-day suspension.
“As a result of the sexual harassment and assault, the girl has been suffering from trauma, pain, social anxiety, academic setback and post-traumatic stress,” the lawsuit states.
Authors: Andy Goldwasser and Alexis Kabat
