Read selected education law cases litigated by the Kennedy Hunt, P.C.
Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Rockwood School District
The lawsuit alleges that Rockwood School District in St. Louis County, Missouri, subjected our client to sexual harassment and retaliation. According to the lawsuit, Doe, who was a minor at the time, played on the Eureka High School Freshman football team and was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by other players on the team. While the sophomore student restrained Doe, the junior student exposed his own genitals and put them close to Doe’s face, as though he was going to force Doe to perform oral sex on him. Doe broke free from the sophomore’s grasp before the junior did anything else. Our client reported these incidents to the head coach of the football team and the principal of Eureka High School. The lawsuit claims the district did not do enough to stop the sexual harassment. This lawsuit is ongoing.
Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against St. Louis Public Schools
Kennedy Hunt P.C. represents a child with disabilities and her family, who was allegedly harassed by her teachers at school for students with severe disabilities. The lawsuit alleges teachers at St. Louis Public Schools verbally abused her, cursed at her, and even used racial slurs in front of her. Our client is a 9-year-old biracial girl with nonverbal autism and developmental delays. Her disabilities cause challenges with speaking, toileting, focusing, and staying still. She started attending Gateway Michael Elementary in 2022, where she was harassed by her teachers. According to the lawsuit, our client’s mother sent her to school with a recording device. She told the teachers she was going to do so, and even still, they continued mistreating and abusing our client, the lawsuit alleges. By September 2023, our client’s teachers were failing to provide her with adequate instruction, which is when our client’s mother pulled her out and began homeschooling. She had not returned to in-person school since September 2023, as of the lawsuit filing in late 2024. This lawsuit is ongoing.
Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against Gateway Region YMCA and Pattonville R-III School District
Our client is a minor child with Down Syndrome. The lawsuit alleges that Gateway Regional YMCA and Pattonville R-III School District discriminated against our client because he has disabilities. At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, YMCA refused to allow our client to attend before-school care because they “will not be able to provide the level of support your child requires at this time.” Instead, the school district required our client to attend early care at another school in the district, forcing him to take an hour-long bus ride before school started and denying him the opportunity to access the same amount of time participating in activity and learning. Our client’s mother continued complaining about her son’s exclusion, which led the defendants to exclude our client from the early care program in retaliation for their complaints of discrimination. Finally, and only due to the persistence of our client’s mother, did Defendant YMCA accept our client into the program for the 2023-2024 school year. This lawsuit is ongoing.
Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against Campbell R-II School District
This lawsuit alleges that Campbell R-II School District repeatedly violated the rights of our client, a minor child with disabilities. According to the lawsuit, in 2019, our client was paddled by the principal of his elementary school. Upon information and belief, he was paddled due to his disability and/or for exhibiting symptoms of his disabilities. The lawsuit states that neither parent gave such permission, either written or oral. Per the lawsuit, the District’s paddling of our client exacerbated his disabilities and caused him to fear and distrust adults, especially those at the school. The lawsuit further alleges that the School District consistently disciplined our client in situations where non-disabled peers were either not disciplined at all or treated less harshly, despite their involvement in the same incidents. The complaint further claims that when the parents raised concerns about the disparate treatment and requested investigations into the conduct of the non-disabled peers, the District escalated the discipline imposed on our client rather than addressing their concerns. This lawsuit is ongoing.