SAN BENITO — A local mother has filed a lawsuit alleging the San Benito school district failed to prevent her son from being bullied.
Monica Guerra filed paperwork in federal court in Brownsville on behalf of her son, now 16, who attended Miller Jordan Middle School.
According to the complaint, he has “multiple disabilities such as chronic asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental delay, speech delay and skeletal muscular nerve syndrome.”
The lawsuit cites several incidents of alleged harassment and bullying dating “as early as about Dec. 2, 2014.” According to the complaint, another student in his class was calling him names such as “nerd, geek, scrawny, cry baby and snitch as well as threatening to beat him up.”
The complaint states the student reported the incident to his teacher for that class. The lawsuit also states that after school he reported the incident to a counselor and the principal.
The counselor told the student “she would make some changes such as possibly removing him from the class after the holiday vacation,” the complaint states.
According to the lawsuit, “the next day on or about Dec. 3, 2014, Guerra delivered letters” to the teacher, counselor and principal detailing her concerns about her son being bullied and harassed again in the same class and by the same student. The lawsuit alleges no one with the school district investigated the incident or tried to implement school board policies or procedures to prevent future harassment and bullying.
The complaint also states that on or about Feb. 25, 2016, the student was allegedly physically assaulted by a group of students during his physical education class. According to the lawsuit, a result of the incident is that the student’s “front adult teeth were broken to the point that the roots were exposed.”
The complaint states the boy “suffered injuries and damages as a direct and proximate result of the School District’s conduct.”
“Physical pain, medical expenses, mental anguish and loss of educational opportunities in the past and future” are some of the items listed in the lawsuit that alleges “he is entitled to recover herein.”
An email from the Valley Morning Star sent to director of public relations Celia Longoria asked if the district wanted to respond to the allegations. In regards to the inquiry, as per Superintendent Dr. Nate Carman, “the district is unable to comment on pending litigation.”
The district will have an opportunity to respond to the complaint in court documents.
