A Chicago school has shirked its core responsibility of protecting a student from his oppressors and is now facing a lawsuit.
The school authorities left a 9-year-old boy to his fate and threw him unto the streets in March this year.
The boy, identified in the suit as K.S, was enrolled in Fiske Elementary in Woodlawn at the start of the school year. The boy’s family are suing the school for turning a blind eye when the 9-year-old incessantly reported to school authorities that he was being bullied by his mates, CBS News reports.
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The lawsuit says school authorities lied about the actual happening at the school at the time but a CCTV evidence attached to the suit vindicates the little boy.
It also contradicts the narration given to the child’s maternal grandfather, a Chicago police officer when he went to pick his grandson that day.
The video shows the boy being dragged out of the principal’s office by the security man with the principal and his school counsellor looking on as he is forced out of the building.
According to the school officials, K.S was the aggressor and he ran out of the school. The family’s attorney, Dan Herbert, said, “They said he was biting, scratching and kicking other kids – that didn’t happen. He was thrown out into the cold with a polo shirt on for 30 minutes.”
“And, to make matters worse, they called the police and they reported that there’s a missing child. They report that some kid ran out of the school,” Herbert said.
Wearing just a polo shirt and a khaki, K.S sat in the cold weather, 40 degrees at the time, with no jacket.
K.S was jostled by the school authorities and Yvonne Pinkston, his mother, says the school was negligent in executing their duties.
“It’s endangerment,” she said. “Anything could have happened to my son in that neighborhood. They didn’t tell him anything. They just told him that he had to go, and he just sat there. He said that he was scared. He didn’t think anyone was coming,” she said.
Speaking to the video evidence, Yvonne said, “You actually get to see the truth, and to see that this is what they’ll do with a child, it hurts that it’s my child, but I worked with kids for 4 ½ years; I don’t care how hard the day gets, you don’t do this to a child.”
According to CNN, the fourth grader’s family are suing the City of Chicago, the school’s board of Education and principal, the principal, counsellor and security guard because they all contributed to the emotional trauma the boy had to endure.
The school said it was not their fault if the boy couldn’t fit in. Hebert mentioned that the boy was bullied and harassed regularly and the school’s way of dealing with the issue at the time was to call his mother for him, NBC Chicago reports.
“The school didn’t like the fact that he was making complaints. The school, the principal, didn’t like the fact that his mother and his grandparents were doing what they were supposed to do, and that was hold the school responsible,” Herbert said.
The attorney added that “the worst thing about this case is the cover-up.”
Chicago Public Schools have issued a statement, saying they are in the know of the “deeply concerning allegations.”
The security man involved has been relieved of his duties and the principal is under investigations.
“Every CPS student deserves access to a safe and welcoming school environment, and the district takes seriously all allegations of student harm. These allegations are deeply disturbing, and we are fully committed to holding accountable any adult whose actions could have endangered a student,” the statement said.
Yvonne said her son is a “sweet” boy who would speak up anytime the other kids did something he thought was wrong. K.S is currently seeing a counselor for his “lasting emotional wounds” and he is “thriving” in his new school.
