The parents of a Clark-Pleasant Middle School student have filed a legal claim against the school district amid ongoing racial and sexual orientation-based bullying.
South Bend-based Lockwood Legal Group and Attorney James Lockwood filed a tort notice Tuesday against Clark-Pleasant Community Schools and Superintendent Patrick Spray. With the notice, the school district has 15 days to respond. A non-response will trigger an immediate lawsuit. If the school district does respond, the law firm will have 90 days to share information before filing a lawsuit, James Lockwood said in an email.
If a lawsuit were to move forward, the client is seeking $2.1 million in damages from the school district for emotional distress, public humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, mental anguish, lost wages and attorney fees, according to the notice.
Lockwood Legal Group claims the actions of students and inaction of school leaders violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because the school district receives federal financial assistance.
“No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,” the Civil Rights Act says.
The tort notice claims the student, Zonyell Weaver, who is a Black lesbian, was harassed and threatened at school, on the school bus and on social media starting in April 2021 and continuing throughout the 2021-22 school year. During that time, a student showed Weaver his arm, on which was written a racial slur, before telling the her ‘go ahead and kill yourself.’ Two students also sent Weaver threatening messages on Snapchat. Other students yelled ‘white lives matter’ at her on the school bus and other students have continuously called her racial slurs, according to the notice.
Her experience was not limited to verbal harassment. Weaver was also physically assaulted during gym class and in Clark-Pleasant Middle School hallways, and was sexually harassed, according to the notice.
The harassment continued beyond the school. Debra Weaver, Zonyell Weaver’s mother, says students have also stood outside the Weaver residence to harass her.
Weaver had never struggled with mental health prior to the bullying incidents. But since the bullying began, she has self-harmed and attempted suicide multiple times, Debra Weaver said.
Clark-Pleasant Schools issued a statement on the incident and said the district takes bullying claims seriously.
“The Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation takes all claims of bullying seriously. The Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation promptly investigates all claims of bullying and takes all appropriate remedial action in response to each claim,” the statement says. “Because the safety and well-being of our students is paramount, we have mental health professionals in each building, along with community-based therapists to support students. However, even with all of these resources and effort by our staff, social media and student access to digital media outside of the school day can have a significant impact on the mental health of students. We urge all parents to be extremely mindful of their children’s social media access and digital footprint.”
However, the claim alleges school officials and the district took no remedial action.
“Either out of negligence, reckless disregard or intentional indifference, personnel of Clark-Pleasant Middle School failed to take steps to put a stop to such bullying and therefore failed to protect our client’s daughter from continuous, pervasive, extensive and severe racial and sexual harassment,” the notice says. “This constituted a breach of the duty school personnel owed to both our client as well as his daughter. This breach was the actual and proximate cause of our client’s emotional distress, mental anguish and economic loss.”
The Weaver family feels they have no other recourse but to take the school on in court. They’ve tried to address the bullying but school officials won’t listen, Debra Weaver said.
“Everybody has been calling her the n-word, telling her to kill herself, she’s been slammed into lockers. I’ve tried talking to the principal, but he hasn’t returned any of my phone calls. When I’ve gone out there, he has not talked to me. I talked to the dean of students several times and she hasn’t addressed the issue. She put the kids across from her in the lunchroom instead of protecting her. Since last year, I’ve been trying to get somebody to listen to me,” Debra Weaver said. “I’ve had people come in front of our house yelling ‘white lives matter’ and telling her to kill herself. I’m not just fighting for my daughter, I’m fighting for all kids. The bullying and racial slurs need to stop. My daughter has the right to an education just like everyone else.”
This isn’t the first instance of claims of discrimination-based bullying at Clark-Pleasant schools this year.
In February, the Sikh Coalition, a national Sikh group, represented a Whiteland Community High School student who said he was the victim of discriminatory actions by other students at the school.
“A group of students began filming our client and other Punjabi students eating lunch in the cafeteria, making statements including ‘why do you wear these turbans’ and ‘why you are here?’” the group’s news release said at the time. “After our client tried to prevent them from filming, several students proceeded to assault him: they punched and kicked him, including by specifically knocking his turban off of his head, and made bigoted remarks about his turban and race throughout the assault.”
The coalition ultimately decided not to file suit, after a suspension was removed from the student’s record and school officials agreed to meet with Sikh leaders. The bullying, however, led to the student not returning to in-person learning due to what he faced at school.
