PHILADELPHIA - A federal lawsuit says the private Quaker School Abington Friends refused to prevent assault on a student that included fruit being stuffed in her mouth.
In a lawsuit filed March 14 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Student Doe, represented by their parents Mother Doe and Father Doe, have accused Abington Friends School (AFS), Richard Nourie, Dominique M. Gerard, La Toya Miller and Kevin Ryan of numerous offenses.
The allegations include pervasive abuse, bullying, harassment, assault, battery, false imprisonment, verbal abuse regarding physical characteristics and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
DeSiderato
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The student enrolled at Abington Friends in 2018 as a freshman, sharing a bus with a figure identified in the complaint as "Student Perpetrator." They began dating at the beginning of the school year.
But Student Perpetrator abused Doe, the suit says, often recruiting classmates to video it. At one point, Perpetrator slapped Doe in the face with pieces of cheese and stuffed fruit in her mouth.
Perpetrator also resisted breakup attempts by Doe and threatened to rape Doe's minor sister, the suit says.
When the breakup was announced publicly, Perpetrator verbally abused Doe over the phone, the suit says. He recruited other students to also verbally abuse her on the AFS campus, the suit says.
Reports of bullying to the school weren't acted upon, the suit says. Various other incidents are alleged in the 89-page complaint.
The plaintiffs argue that these are all major violations of AFS' Community Standards. They claim that despite enduring years of abuse at AFS, the school failed to implement its investigatory and disciplinary procedures as per their contract with the plaintiffs.
In fact, they accuse AFS of threatening to expel Student Doe for shedding light on these abuses.
Due to this alleged misconduct by AFS and the individual defendants named in the suit, the plaintiffs felt compelled to withdraw Student Doe from AFS before their junior year. They claim this has resulted in significant physical, emotional and psychological harm to Student Doe who was also deprived of normal high school experiences like prom and graduation.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and discrimination in violation of Title IX and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for nearly $80,000 paid to AFS during this period.
Jerry DeSiderato of Dilworth Paxson represents the plaintiffs.