Photo by Jon Anderson
Trace Crossings Elementary
Trace Crossings Elementary School in Hoover, Alabama
The guardians of a former first-grade girl at Trace Crossings Elementary School have sued the Hoover school board and numerous educators, claiming the 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted at school by other first-grade girls on “a number of occasions.”
The guardians, identified under the pseudonyms of “Mary Doe” and “Martha Doe,” claimed in the federal lawsuit that a group of “harassing girls” assaulted “Jane Doe” on a number of occasions on the playground and in the restroom during the 2017-18 school year.
“The other Harassing Girls assaulted her by holding her while they pulled her pants and underwear down before digitally manipulating her vagina,” the lawsuit states. The girls, who were not named in the suit, “took turns standing guard, allowing each to put their hands in Plaintiff’s underwear and touch her vagina, creating a sexually abusive educational environment," the suit states.
“The Harassing Girls also took her into the girls’ restroom and insisted that she wear a toddler diaper (a.k.a. a “pullup”) instead of underwear,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit, originally filed in February and amended in August, claims Hoover school officials failed to take appropriate corrective action after being informed of the abuse and instead responded with “deliberate indifference” and unreasonable actions, thus creating a hostile environment and depriving her of educational opportunities.
An attorney for the school board filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the “touching” activity that is the centerpiece of the harassment claim was successfully hidden from school officials and employees until February 2018.
Once the activity came to the attention of school personnel, school officials immediately contacted Jane Doe’s guardians, an investigation ensued, and appropriate measures were implemented, school system attorney Carl Johnson wrote in his motion.
Jane Doe had been in a kindergarten class in a private school, but when she moved to Hoover, she enrolled at Trace Crossings Elementary in October 2017 and was placed in a first-grade class despite her guardians’ expressed concerns with the higher grade placement, the lawsuit says.
Second girl assaulted
After the assaults began, one of the “harassing girls” identified under the pseudonym of “Jane Smith” felt like the other girls were going too far and told the other girls she would no longer participate in the sexual assaults, the suit says. The “harassing girls then began assaulting Jane Smith on the playground and in the restroom, just as they had done with Jane Doe, the suit says. They also continued to harass and assault Jane Doe, the suit says.
Jane Smith told her parents, who informed one or more of the school officials, including Trace Crossings Principal Quincy Collins, about the harassment and assault, the suit claims.
“In response to the report of the repeated, systematic and pervasive sexual abuse of Jane Smith by the Harassing Girls, Defendant Collins made the Harassing Girls run laps,” and Jane Smith’s parents withdrew her from Trace Crossings in January 2018, the lawsuit says.
The sexual abuse of Jane Doe continued, and during the first few weeks of February 2018, Jane Doe’s behavior changed in that she became obstinately defiant of authority, the suit states. Mary Doe quit her job to spend more time at home with the girl, and on Feb. 26, 2018, Mary and Martha Doe sent a letter to the principal, expressing concerns about Jane Doe’s teacher, Michelle Kaiser. The next day, Mary and Martha Doe were notified of an assault against Jane Doe at the school, so they kept her out of school through March 6, the suit states.
On March 5, Collins met with Superintendent Kathy Murphy and Assistant Superintendent Tera Simmons, and a safety plan was discussed that involved placing Jane Doe in another class, providing counseling and additional toilet opportunities for Jane Doe, providing an aide to supervise Jane Doe at lunch, recess, assemblies and field trips, providing special education on social and emotional skills, and removing Kaiser, the lawsuit states.
However, Jane Doe was never assigned to another class and was required to return to class with the “harassing girls,” the suit says. Kaiser was placed on administrative leave for two weeks, including the week of spring break, according to the lawsuit.
The day before spring break, a student in the class cut Jane Doe’s hair while they were on the playground, and after spring break, Jane Doe was pushed on the playground on April 2 and bitten by another student on May 22, bruising her face and lip, the suit states.
Mary and Martha Doe withdrew Jane Doe from Trace Crossings on June 1, 2018, and decided to homeschool her.
The lawsuit names the school board, Murphy, Collins, then-Assistant Principal Amanda Stone, Kaiser, instructional aide Martha Harbuck, speech language pathologist Heather Miller and counselor Terri Coleman as defendants in the case.
The suit claims that Kaiser disregarded the risk of harm that would result from her failure to follow the rule of prohibiting multiple children from using the restroom at a time without adult supervision. It also claims that Murphy, Collins and other educators were “deliberately indifferent” to the need to protect Jane Doe from the risk of assault and the need to separate students in a way that would have protected her.
Jane Doe continues to suffer physical injury, severe emotional distress, anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, frustration, stress and trauma and was deprived of a safe learning environment, the suit claims. Mary and Martha Doe are seeking a trial by jury and both compensatory and punitive damages.
School response
The school board attorney, in his motion to dismiss the case, said that, at most, the plaintiff’s complaint amounts to a claim of simple negligence, which is not a claim for which any relief can be granted through state or federal law.
To establish a viable student-on-student harassment claim under Title IX of federal law, the plaintiff must prove that the harassment is gender-based, and the plaintiffs have not shown that, Johnson wrote. The plaintiffs also must show that an official who had authority to take corrective action had knowledge of the harassment, and the plaintiff has not shown that any school employee knew of the “touching activity” prior to Feb. 27, Johnson wrote.
After being notified of the “touching activity,” school officials promptly investigated the matter, developed a safety plan for the minor and provided additional counseling, supervision, social and emotional support services, and additional opportunities to use the restroom, Johnson’s motion states.
None of the allegations of abuse toward Jane Doe that occurred after school officials were informed of assault allegations even hint that they were gender-based, Johnson wrote.
“They apparently involved different students in different settings with different teachers, and amount to a misplaced attempt on plaintiff’s part to stitch together unrelated events so as to suggest a pattern of actionable conduct where none exists,” Johnson wrote.
The plaintiffs in the case now have until Oct. 3 to respond to Johnson’s motion to dismiss.
