The mother of a sophomore football player, who suffered a concussion after he was bullied by other football players, has sued Warren Consolidated Schools for failing to stop the harassment.
The mother, identified in the complaint as “Next Friend,” alleged in her complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan that the district violated Title IX, through the harassment of her son based on his sexual orientation, as well as violated the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The sexual orientation issue arose because her 15-year-old student had revealed in 2019 that he was bisexual. This led to the Sterling Heights High School student allegedly being subjected to homosexual slurs, cyberbullying that included threats of physical harm, and an assault by other football players, which led to a concussion and the lingering effects of that traumatic brain injury.
Specifically, she charged in the lawsuit that because of the “severe harassment, (her son) became socially withdrawn, became frightened of the school environment, suffered academically and fell into a deep depression.” Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that in November 2019, hemade a suicide attempt in order to get away from the harassment.”
Plaintiff’s attorney Eric Stempien, of Stempien Law PLLC, told the media that the family is seeking monetary damages as well as “changes at the school so that this does not happen to another student.”
“The school district has a policy that allegedly prohibits harassment, including harassment based on sexual orientation. But it is clear that they either will not or cannot enforce their policies,” he said. “We would like to see the school district bring in an expert in the field of school bullying and harassment to provide a comprehensive review of the schools and how they enforce their anti-harassment policies.
“We would like the school district (to) not just bring in a truly independent expert to conduct a review, but also to have that expert make recommendations and then implement those recommendations. There is clearly a systemic problem at the school that needs to be addressed from school district administration, to the administration at the high school, and down to the coaches of the football team.”
The lawsuit contends that even after the plaintiff informed the administrators about the harassment that they took no action.
“Defendant took no corrective action or took minimal action,” according to the lawsuit. “None of the actions taken by defendant were effective in stopping the harassment; despite the ineffectiveness of its responses, defendant never changed its response to the harassment being suffered by (the student).”
Rather, school officials “warned the offending students that they were being targeted by ‘certain people.’”
