Southeast Polk schools accused in lawsuit of ignoring homophobic bullying, biting
Southeast Polk teachers and administrators failed to protect an elementary school student from repeated and violent homophobic bullying and assaults, his parents allege in a new lawsuit.
The complaint, filed by Benjamin and Amanda Fogle, accuses Clay Elementary teacher Carla Rivas, principal Andrea Bruns and district superintendent Dirk Halupnik of negligence, sex discrimination and aiding and abetting bullying and harassment against their son, identified by initials in court filings.
The parents allege that their son was "relentlessly bullied" by other students for his perceived sexual orientation, and that one student in particular assaulted their son on at least four occasions between January and April 2023.
Those attacks include the other boy allegedly biting their son in the genital area hard enough to make him cry out, grabbing at his genitals and making sexual gestures behind their son while he was bending forward.
Teachers at the school reportedly witnessed several of the assaults, including the biting incident, but described them as "accidents" and told their son to "stop yelling," or that being groped was his fault for standing too close to the other boy. Only once, the parents say, did the school inform them of the incidents.
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While the school did eventually establish a "safety plan," administrators kept the two boys together in the same class. Only in May, almost four months after the first assault, did the school finally move the alleged bully to another class, and only after Amanda Fogle had filed reports with Altoona police and the Iowa Department of Human Services days earlier.
"Despite the requisite knowledge of the horrendous actions taken against (the student), SEP has failed to take measures" to protect him, his parents allege.
Attorneys for the Fogles declined to comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for the Southeast Polk Community School District said the district is aware of the lawsuit and plans to respond in court.
The Fogle's''s lawsuit follows another suit against the district filed last year alleging that a child receiving special education services was severely verbally and physically bullied by classmates, including being falsely accused of assaults and using racial slurs, and that the only accommodations proposed by school leaders were to let him leave class one minute early and have adult supervision for bus loading.
It also comes after after several similar suits filed late last year against Des Moines Public Schools. In those cases, parents accused DMPS of failing to prevent a fight in which a student was stabbed, and failing to prevent or provide appropriate medical attention after a student was shoved on a playground hard enough to suffer a collapsed lung.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa school district sued for failing to stop anti-gay bullying
