As part of a federal civil rights lawsuit settlement in order to avoid a costly and lengthy jury trial, North Penn School District agreed last week to pay $750,000 to a former student who was the victim of sexual assault and harassment more than 20 times through half of her school life from 2014 to 2019.
The student brought Title IX claims and a constitutional claim against the district in 2020, alleging deliberate indifference to the known sexual harassment.
The settlement comes four months after a federal judge denied the district’s motion for a full summary judgement and granted the plaintiff’s motion for a summary judgement on two of three counts. The judge ruled the district knew about the abuse by the male classmate with a known history of sexual predation and allowed it to continue for several years. The court did not rule in favor of the plaintiff on the issue of deliberate indifference.
For her safety, Doe was forced to switch schools during her middle school years, only for her attacker to continue the harassment at North Penn High School and North Montco Technical Career Center.
Furthermore, the judge ruled a jury could find that North Penn violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Thus, as part of the settlement, North Penn is required develop, institute and train teachers, staff, and all employees on Title IX and student-on-student sexual harassment. The requirements include:
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a Federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs.
According to settlement documents, the school district denies any liability from the allegations and it chose to "resolve matters to avoid the expense and disruption anticipated in the event of further litigation between the parties.”
"This agreement shall not be construed as an admission of liability by the school district,” states the document.
The agreement was signed on Feb. 16and the money will be paid through the district’s insurer, Zurich American Insurance Company, per court documents.
"The district does not publicly comment on legal agreements regarding current or former students,” said North Penn School Board President Tina Stoll, when reached for comment.
The sexual harassment and abuse of Doe began when she was a sixth grader in a Gwynedd Square Elementary School language arts class in 2014 and lasted for five years through North Penn High School and North Montco Technical Career Center until 2019, according to court documents. The October ruling concluded that North Penn cannot dispute that the male student sexually harassed and abused Doe several times.
Jane Doe Co-Counsel and Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project Director Adele Kimmel said North Penn cannot undo the physical and emotional trauma Doe experienced.
"However, the settlement provides Jane with some compensation for what she endured and requires the district to make changes that not only will ensure appropriate training for its administrators and employees but will better protect students from sexual harassment and help them access the resources they are entitled to under Title IX,” Kimmel said.
Jane Doe’s other co-counsel, Laura E. Laughlin, of Philadelphia personal injury law firm Messa & Associates, called the settlement a "great resolution” after several years of bringing to light areas that North Penn School District was deficient in preventing and responding to sexual assault in its schools.
"The filing of this lawsuit not only allowed Jane to stand up against the way she was treated by the District, but students will be safer in the future because of her courage. I was proud to stand with her in her fight for justice,” Laughlin said.
According to Public Justice, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit legal advocacy organization, the school district had tried to get the federal district court to dismiss all of Doe’s claims. The October ruling meant Doe could proceed to trial on two of her three claims:
According to the October ruling, the case arose "from the alleged failure of Defendant North Penn School District to protect Plaintiff, a minor student, from repeated sexual assaults by a classmate during school hours over the course of several years.”
"In its opinion, the court recognized that schools must not only prevent further harassment of student-victims, but must also protect survivors’ access to education. The court also ruled that a jury could find a school acted with deliberate indifference to sexual harassment when, as in this case, the school downplays and misclassifies reports of the harassment,” stated Public Justice in October. "The court further held that a jury could find that a school violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause when it fails to train its employees on Title IX and student-on-student sexual harassment specifically, even if it provides training on other forms of harassment.”
After the ruling in October, Kimmel graded North Penn School District an "F” on fulfilling its obligation to ensure students have a sexual harassment-free education.
"We are pleased that the court’s ruling gives Jane an opportunity to expose how badly North Penn failed her and how its lack of sexual harassment training endangers other students,” Kimmel said in October.
Laughlin said in October she was glad the Court denied the district’s attempt to dismiss Doe’s claims in the case.
"North Penn’s failure to adequately train its teachers and administrators and failure to appropriately respond after it knew of Ms. Doe’s assaults caused Ms. Doe physical and emotional trauma that no child should have to experience in our public school system,” Messa said in October.
The complaint was initially filed on Oct. 15, 2020 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Laughlin on behalf of Doe.
It alleges that Doe was sexually assaulted by the same male student more than 20 times throughout her educational experience. The district allegedly acted with deliberate indifference by failing to respond to Doe’s complaints or provide her with a safe learning environment, per the complaint.
The allegations within the complaint include, but are not limited to, the following:
"The district has robbed Ms. Doe of her elementary, middle and high school experiences, and subjected her to repeated sexual assault and harassment committed by a known predator, violating her constitutional, federal and civil rights, and causing her loss of educational benefits, physical and emotional injury and other damages,” read a portion of the complaint.
The lawsuit stated that Doe was sexually assaulted more than 20 times by the male while a student in North Penn School District, including in classrooms, stairways, libraries, lunchrooms and during recess. The assaults included fondling and groping above and beneath the clothing, as well as digital penetration, the complaint stated.
As a result of the sexual abuse, Doe — who had existing issues of anxiety and an ADHD diagnosis — was diagnosed by the school district’s psychologist in May 2019 with "emotional disturbance” as a new primary disability, the lawsuit claimed.
According to the October ruling, Doe’s mother told former Director of Elementary Education Dr. Elizabeth Santoro that her daughter witnessed the abuser touching other girls inappropriately starting in the fourth grade.
According to court documents, the district brought disciplinary action against the Gwynedd Square Elementary teacher "for the failure to respond appropriately to the November 2014 incident where she saw the abuser put his hand up Jane’s shirt in class.”
The district’s then-Director of Human Resources Dr. Cheryl McCue sent a letter to the teacher explaining she had demonstrated "poor judgement in responding to the touching she saw,” and poor judgement in failing to report the sexual harassment to a higher-up.
The teacher was suspended for two days and placed on a performance improvement plan, but the teacher appealed the decision, per court documents. Former Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich denied the appeal, per court documents, emphasizing the seriousness of the teacher’s actions.
According to court records, Dietrich told the teacher that the "behavior of a male student reaching his hand underneath a female student’s shirt in the area of her chest during . . . a sixth grade lesson should be very significant cause for concern,” and that "when student behavior such as the behavior in this case is not appropriately addressed, the behavior is very likely to be repeated with victims continuing to suffer.”
According to school records, the teacher, who started with the district in 2008, remains employed as an elementary special education teacher.
See also:
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