What is going on with Portland Public Schools? Third graders are being raped, and no one called the police—that’s the gist of the story. It’s a tale that slapped the school system with a $9 million lawsuit, and rightfully so. In 2022, the victim, then aged 9, was the target of multiple sexual assaults and unwanted advances at Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland.
The school not calling the police was bad enough. What’s worse is that the alleged attackers weren’t expelled, which is the least this district could have done. Instead, they opted for a safety protocol wherein the girl and her alleged rapists would be given different lunch periods. Is this for real?
NEW: Portland family sues Portland Public School district for $9 million after their daughter was allegedly ‘gang r*ped’ in the school bathroom.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 4, 2024
The girl was allegedly assaulted by two male students in the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program.
It gets worse. The boys only… pic.twitter.com/EJLRDgzTm6
When the student was in the third grade at Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland in 2022, she was sexually assaulted several times during school hours and while at a county-led after-school program, the lawsuit states. This included unwanted touching of her genitals over her clothing by a classmate during class while being taught by a district educator.
In a separate incident in the same school year, another student tried to kiss the girl without her permission. According to the lawsuit, she then hit the student in the face, and both were suspended. After the incidents, staff at Scott Elementary School told the girl’s father that they intended to "issue a safety plan" for her.
Then, in a different incident within the same school year, two male classmates kissed the girl without her permission while they were at the after-school program, Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Community Schools, jointly operated by the Latino Network on the elementary school grounds. Shortly afterwards, the two male students threatened the girl, instructing her to tell the after-school program staff that she needed to use the bathroom or else "they would find out where she lived," according to the lawsuit.
The students followed her to the bathroom, locked her in the stall, removed her pants and took turns sexually assaulting her as she protested. The girl tried to escape but both of her assaulters took turns blocking the stall door to prevent her from leaving, according to the lawsuit.
The father of one of the male students involved learned of the incident from their child and reported it to staff at Scott Elementary School. Instead of notifying police immediately, "PPS undertook their own internal investigation,” the lawsuit claims. PPS staff interviewed the girl without notifying her parents or legal guardians of the sexual assault. (via KGW8)
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The report added that the victim's parents eventually learned of their child’s assault, got her medical attention, and transferred her to a different public school. That process did take about a month, and she and her brother were out of school during that transition period. The girl’s attackers remained and only got a one-day suspension.
These kids should be in juvenile detention and, if warranted, be charged as adults for rape and locked up. What is going on in our education system? Every layer is fraught with corruption, incompetence, and outright illegality.
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