In response to lawsuit, Bellingham Public Schools denies failing to protect sexually abused student

Bellingham Public Schools denies that it failed to protect an autistic elementary school student from being repeatedly sexually assaulted by another student while on the bus, and that it failed to report the allegations to law enforcement or state child welfare officials, as is required by law.

The parents of a 10-year-old Wade King Elementary School student filed a civil lawsuit June 24 in Whatcom County Superior Court against Bellingham Public Schools. The parents’ lawsuit accuses the district of knowing the male student, age 9, had a documented history of sexually abusing other children while on the school bus prior to abusing their 10-year-old son; that the district has a special protective relationship with the children in its care and was negligent and failed in its duties to protect the 10-year-old and other children from the 9-year-old child; and that the district failed in its obligations to report the sexual abuse to law enforcement or child welfare officials, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

All school district employees are mandatory reporters and are required by state law to report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to law enforcement or to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families. State law requires the report be made at the first opportunity available, but no longer than 48 hours after there is reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect.

The parents allege that, because of the district’s failures, their son has suffered and continues to suffer emotional, psychological and other damages, and that their relationship with him has been damaged. They are seeking general and special damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and any other relief the court deems just and proper, according to the records.

In its July 18 response to the lawsuit, the school district denied any liability and denied that it failed in its duties to protect the 10-year-old and other children from the 9-year-old child, according to court records.

The Herald has reached out to Bellingham Public Schools, the district’s attorneys and the parents’ attorney for comment.

Denial of liability

While the district admitted that both students attended Wade King Elementary during the 2022-2023 school year, the district said it did not have sufficient information to confirm or deny that the 9-year-old had a history of sexually assaulting other students while on Bellingham Public Schools buses.

The district denied that it and its staff knew the 9-year-old boy was accused of sexually assaulting two other children in the roughly four-month span prior to when the 9-year-old boy is alleged to have repeatedly sexually assaulted the 10-year-old boy, court records show.

In October 2022, the 9-year-old was accused of sexually assaulting another student while the pair were on the bus. The district’s response denies that it and its staff knew of the abuse. The district also said it did not have sufficient information to confirm or deny whether that child’s parents reported the allegations to the district, the court records state.

The district denied that it failed to take “reasonably prudent” actions following the alleged assault in October 2022. It also denied that it asked the bus driver to identify older students to sit next to the 9-year-old child, or that the district failed to inform those students and their parents that they were chaperoning the 9-year-old to prevent him from sexually abusing other students, court documents state.

The district denied the allegations that the 9-year-old boy raped a second student while on the bus and while a safety plan was in place, records state. The district said it did not have sufficient information to confirm or deny whether that child’s parents reported the allegations to the district, court records show.

The district also denied that it failed to address and take action in response to the disclosures of the two assaults, the school district’s response states.

Title IX investigation

The district denied that spanning a four-month period in spring 2023, the 10-year-old and 9-year-old children rode the bus and sat together roughly six times, in which the 9-year-old is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting and raping the 10-year-old child. The district also said it did not have sufficient information to confirm or deny that the 10-year-old child’s parents reported the sexual abuse to the district and law enforcement, the records show.

At some point after the start of June 2023, the school district initiated a Title IX investigation into the 10-year-old boy’s allegations, his parent’s lawsuit shows.

The district’s Title IX investigator recommended that the district’s decision-maker conclude that the 9-year-old student’s actions constituted sexual harassment, The Herald previously reported.

A second allegation included in the district’s Title IX investigation alleged that the 10-year-old boy had reported to school officials multiple previous incidents prior to early June 2023, in which the 9-year-old student sexually abused him while they were on the bus.

Bus footage reviewed by district investigators showed the two students sat together six times during a month-long span in spring 2023. While nothing in the footage — which does not show what was occurring in the bus seats — explicitly showed sexual misconduct, there are “details in the footage that align with details supporting the allegations and accounts” from both the 10-year-old student and other witnesses, the parents’ lawsuit states.

The Title IX investigator recommended the district’s decision-maker conclude that the 9-year-old boy repeatedly sexually assaulted the 10-year-old child during spring 2023 while they were on the bus, the court records show.

In its Thursday response to the parents’ lawsuit, the school district said the Title IX report spoke for itself, court records show.

Dismissal requested

The school district denied that its actions or any negligence on its part was the direct or proximate cause of the 10-year-old boy’s emotional and psychological distress, or any damage caused to the parents’ relationship with their son, court records state.

The district also denied that it failed in its duties to protect the boy and other students from the 9-year-old, and that it failed to reasonably foresee that the 9-year-old would sexually abuse the 10-year-old.

The district has also denied that it and its staff failed in their mandatory reporting duties, the court records show.

The district claims that the injuries and damages suffered by the 10-year-old boy and his parents were not the fault of the school district, but were instead caused by the “intentional acts of a third party,” the records state.

The district also claims that investigative records produced as part of discovery in the lawsuit may show that the boy and his parents “failed to mitigate their damages,” court documents state.

The district has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice and award the district costs and fees of the lawsuit. If the lawsuit is not dismissed by the court, the district has asked for a jury trial, the records show.

Prior reporting failures

The parents’ lawsuit was filed roughly seven months after three Bellingham Public Schools administrators resolved the criminal cases against them alleging that they failed to report a Squalicum High School female student’s repeated sexual assaults to law enforcement or child welfare officials, The Herald previously reported.

In that case, all three administrators were charged with one count of failure to report, a gross misdemeanor. They entered into an agreed-upon deferred prosecution agreement Dec. 5, where the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office agreed to continue the criminal cases for roughly 90 days while the administrators did community service. Following that, the prosecutor’s office stated it would dismiss the charges against all three administrators.

Court records show the prosecutor’s office dismissed the three administrators’ cases with prejudice in early January.

The female student who disclosed the sexual assaults to school district officials filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the district Dec. 7, 2022. Her lawsuit is still pending, federal court records show.

The student, who withdrew from the high school and began attending another school, accuses the district in her lawsuit of violating her federal Title IX rights, failing its duty to protect and care for her and neglecting its duties to report the sexual assaults to law enforcement.

She previously sought $1 million in damages from the district before filing the federal lawsuit, The Herald previously reported.

The district denied it mishandled the student’s reports in its January 2023 response to the federal lawsuit. The district said it took reasonable steps to stop the reported harassment, that the assault allegations contained in the student’s lawsuit were not reported to the administrators and that the conduct that was reported to them was not considered abuse or neglect under state law.

Resources

▪ Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org

Brigid Collins Family Support Center professionals are on-call between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, to answer questions about children, families, abuse prevention or treatment at (360) 734-4616.

▪ Child Protective Services: Washington state hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect, 866-829-2153.

▪ Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

▪ Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

▪ Tl’ils Ta’á’altha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

▪ Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

▪ WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/.

If you or a child is in immediate danger, call 911 and make a report to law enforcement.

To report child abuse or neglect call 1-866-END HARM.