The parents of an eight-year-old girl have launched a sexual assault lawsuit against her Michigan school, alleging that she was spanked and pinched several times by a custodian.
The supposed assault was part of an outdated birthday ritual, according to MLive.
The parents state in the federal lawsuit that when they complained about the incident, the reply was dismissive.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are the custodian, Saginaw Township Community Schools, Hemmeter Elementary School Principal James Bailey, and Superintendent Bruce Martin.
The custodian hasn’t been identified and is instead referred to as “Jane Roe” in the lawsuit.
Lawyers Victor Mastromarco and Kevin Kelly, working for the girl’s mother, filed the suit in US District Court in Bay City on 5 August.
In the document, the unidentified mother is referred to as “Jane Doe” and the daughter is called “Minor Doe”.
Mr Mastromarco told MLive that “kids know what their private parts are and that they’re not supposed to be touched”.
“And here’s an adult doing this. Then you have administrators essentially saying we’re going to bring her back and it’s okay,” he added.
The lawsuit states that the girl, a second grader at Hemmeter, was walking in the hallways on 13 May on her way to the restroom when she met the custodian, telling Roe that it was her birthday.
Roe asked if she wanted her “‘birthday spankings’ now or at lunch”.
The child said she wasn’t going to present at lunch, and the custodian followed her into the bathroom and spanked her eight times and pinched her behind, the lawsuit states.
There are no surveillance cameras in the restrooms.
“Roe went into the restroom and gave the ‘birthday spankings’ there to avoid recording of her actions and discovery of her sexual assault of Minor Doe,” the suit states. “Said intentional touching constitutes a sexual assault, sexual abuse, and criminal sexual conduct in violation of Michigan law.”
The legal filing says that the student felt “extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed”.
The girl told her mother and her mother’s husband about what had happened later that night, prompting them to contact the child’s teacher and Mr Bailey the following morning.
The legal filing alleges that Mr Bailey didn’t report the incident to Child Protective Services or to law enforcement, even though he had a legal requirement to file a report.
The custodian was put on administrative leave and she was interviewed by Mr Bailey and the second-grade teacher. She admitted to having intentionally touched the girl and that she had also done so to other children at her previous job at RB Havens Elementary School, according to the lawsuit.
The eight-year-old girl’s mother spoke with Mr Bailey on 18 May, and the filing states that he made excuses for the actions of the custodian.
The mother told the principal that such actions are a tactic used by groomers to get children to become used to improper physical contact, MLive reported.
Mr Bailey reportedly told the mother that the custodian was returning to work on 19 May. The mother said she wasn’t okay with her being in the same building as her daughter.
“Completely failing to recognize the magnitude of the situation, Defendant Bailey responded that Plaintiff’s feelings were unfortunate, because Defendant Roe was a really good custodian,” the lawsuit alleges, claiming that the school district “was more concerned about keeping its hallways clean and garbage bins empty than ensuring its students were protected”.
When the mother spoke to Mr Martin and asked if he believed it was still safe for the student to go to school, he said he had to “circle the wagons”.
The lawsuit claims that the district didn’t take action to provide the student with a safe environment until the mother said she was going to reach out to a lawyer.
The legal filing argues that six violations have been committed, including violations of due process under the 14th Amendment, violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and sex discrimination in violation of the Education Amendment of 1972.
There are also two counts listed of sex discrimination in violation of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, and a count of sex discrimination in violation of the Michigan Equal Accommodations Act.
Mr Mastromarco told MLive that Mr Bruce and Mr Martin were negligent when they didn’t report the incident.
“They’re supposed to be reporting to the authorities the minute they hear of something like that happening,” the lawyer told the outlet. “They completely failed in doing that. Instead, they’re more interested in retaining this person and basically sweeping it under the rug. They know better. They are mandatory reporters. They did nothing.”
Mr Mastromarco, who said he wasn’t sure of the name of custodian, believes that she has moved on to another job at a different school.
“She’s been doing it at other schools,” he told MLive. “That’s crazy. You’re going to move the person to a different location without taking remedial actions against them?”
The lawsuit is seeking damages of more than $75,000 as well as lawyers’ fees and other expenses.
The Independent has reached out to the attorneys representing the defendants for comment.
The lawsuit was served on 11 August and the deadline for a response is 11 October.
