La. deaf school sued over molestation case

[Miss-Delectable]

2theadvocate.com | News | La. deaf school sued over molestation case — Baton Rouge, LA

The mother of a former Louisiana School for the Deaf student is suing the state and the school, claiming two male students repeatedly molested her daughter during the 2007-2008 school year.

The mother, who lives in Vermilion Parish, contends the state, through the Department of Education, and the school had a duty to protect her daughter from “harmful events’’ but were negligent in failing to do so.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in state district court in Baton Rouge, the mother claims her daughter has suffered “serious and disabling injuries.’’

The mother is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. The suit has been assigned to state District Judge Tim Kelley.

State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek said the mother brought the matter of her daughter’s alleged sexual abuse to the school’s attention.

“She felt like the school did not respond to it,’’ he said Monday.

Pastorek said he did not know if the girl ever complained to the school about the alleged incidents.

“We have not been able to corroborate the story,’’ he added. “In other words, I can’t say whether it happened or didn’t happen.’’

The mother’s attorney, J. Louis Gibbens III of Lafayette, said the girl’s mother discovered the alleged sexual abuse this summer after the school year had ended.

“I’ve looked at the medical records and I feel very strongly about it,’’ he said.

Gibbens said the girl, now 18, is attending a school in the Lafayette area.

The School for the Deaf was scheduled to reopen today, four weeks after Pastorek ordered the school closed after reports of a 16-year-old male student sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl on a bus chartered by the school.

The male student was arrested on a count of aggravated rape Oct. 17.

Five people — three of them current or former employees of the school — were arrested between November 2007 and April for alleged sexual misconduct with juvenile students.

Pastorek said the alleged situation in the lawsuit was known to state education officials when he made the decision to temporarily close the school Oct. 8.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Kaplan woman slaps suit on deaf school

Kaplan woman slaps suit on deaf school | theadvertiser.com | The Advertiser

A Kaplan woman is suing the Louisiana School for the Deaf and the state, saying the school's negligence resulted in multiple molestations of her daughter.

The mother filed a lawsuit Friday against the school and the state, through the Department of Education, said the school failed to provide adequate supervision over the girl. The deaf and mentally disabled girl suffered "serious and disabling" physical and psychological injuries, according to the lawsuit.

From Oct. 31, 2007, to May, the girl, now 18, attended and lived at the school in Baton Rouge. For the duration of her enrollment in the school, two teenage students repeatedly molested her in her dorm room, the mother's attorney J. Louis Gibbens said.

"We learned of this alleged incident in early October, and we are very disheartened by even the possibility that something like this might have happened to another young person at LSD," said Paul Pastorek, state superintendent of education. "Although we have not been able to fully investigate the alleged incidents, this report reinforces our recent decision to temporarily suspend student services at LSD until we could take steps to improve the level of safety and security at the school."

This is the latest accusation in a string of sexual incidents. The school shut down in October after a 16-year-old boy was accused of assaulting an female elementary-school student on a bus. A chaperone was immediately fired after the incident. The school reopened Oct. 29 after assessing safety through a series of meetings with state officials and experts.

Five people were arrested between November 2007 and April on sex charges involving students at the school. Three are current or former teachers. A former teacher pleaded guilty in September to contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. He admitted exchanging sexually explicit e-mails and photographs with the same student.

The history of sexual misconduct in the school is not the reason the mother filed the case, Gibbens said. However, because school staff was aware of the problem, they should have been especially watchful of the students, he said.

"They all seem to grow out of the same problem," Gibbens said. "A lack of supervision."

The lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge has been assigned to state District Judge Tim Kelley. A hearing has not been set yet and Gibbens has not received a response from the state or school.

During the summer the girl told her mother about the incidents, and the mother alerted the school and filed a police report. The school did not look into the accusations immediately, Gibbens said, but they are now starting an investigation.

The girl did not return to the school in August, and now attends a public school in Lafayette Parish with a specialized program.

She receives psychological treatment, one of the things the mother wants paid for by an unspecified amount in damages.

 

[deafbajagal]

Good for this mother! I personally know for a fact that LSD did NOT do its job in terms of providing proper supervision and following up on YEARS of reported incidents.

I'm still upset with how the whole thing was poorly handled.