Lawsuit blames Liberty Public Schools for student’s death
LIBERTY, Mo. — Liberty Public Schools are facing a lawsuit in the death of a student who took his own life.
The lawsuit alleges Logan LeBlanc’s death in March came after extensive bullying reported to his school that was ignored.
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According to the lawsuit, LeBlanc was bullied and beaten before his death by a group of students who call themselves “The Mercenaries.” But it says the school district punished him for being attacked.
Liberty Schools, Liberty North’s former principal and several other administrators, counselors and teachers are all named in the lawsuit that alleges “negligent supervision resulting in wrongful death” and “breach of fiduciary duty.”
The lawsuit says the Mercenaries constant bullying and harassment started when Logan LeBlanc was a freshman and continued up until his death.
“That’s all we are trying to do. We are trying to make it so children can go to school and not be subjected to the point that it’s such a horrific environment that they can’t even handle being there,” Dan Zmijewski, an attorney representing LeBlanc’s mother, said.
The lawsuit says Logan’s grandfather went to school multiple times to speak to school officials about the situation, and Logan himself wrote letters to multiple teachers saying he was depressed and contemplating suicide.
But according to the lawsuit, “despite the complaints no bullying reports were drafted and no safety plan to protect Logan was ever created or enacted. Instead, the District chose to blame Logan for being the victim of the Mercenaries’ unprovoked attacks,” suspending him multiple times.
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The lawsuit says two months after LeBlanc’s death, another student bullied by The Mercenaries attempted suicide.
“There were multiple other students who were bullied by this same group of students, we’re certain of that,” Zmijewski said.
Liberty Public Schools said in a statement: “First and foremost, the loss of a member of our school community is the ultimate tragedy, and our thoughts continue to be with the family and friends of this young person that was lost too soon. Liberty Public Schools takes the health, safety, and welfare of all of our students seriously, and we have Board policies in place that address this. Our school teams work tirelessly to ensure our students have resources readily available if in need of extra support.”
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LeBlanc’s family attorney agrees the school has policies requiring bullying to be reported, and investigated. It also mandates proactive assistance for victims. But he says none of that happened.
“You can’t undo what’s happened, but Logan’s mother wants to make sure she gets the message out that it’s not enough to let children suffer and continue to be bullied,” he said.
The lawsuit asks for a jury trial. Liberty Public Schools said it couldn’t say more because of the pending litigation, but would let the legal process play out.
