.... because she is coming back around
to bite some well-deserving asses....
the lump that was principal when my son
was first trying to raise the issue of bullying
at his HS by organizing a Day of Silence,
who REFUSED to address the issues is now
being SUED along with other school officials,
(different district) law enforcement and district attorney
for guess what??? FAILING to address bullying issues.....
sadly it was a failed suicide attempt that has left
the bullying victim paralyzed that has brought the
discussion into court... so preventable had an
ALREADY established policy been upheld....
bullies SUCK and so do the enablers!
link requires subscription
so here is the article....
Park Falls school district, staff sued over alleged student bullying, neglect
Targeted teen attempted suicide, now a paraplegic
By KEVIN MURPHY
For The Daily Press
Published: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 10:39 PM CDT MADISON — A Chequamegon High School student's attempted suicide in May, which left her a paraplegic, resulted from two years of student bullying and neglect by school and police officials, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court.
Rachell Morenweiser, 15, of Park Falls, shot herself in the stomach on May 5 after a text message circulated that falsely stated she had been raped.
The lawsuit, filed by Morenweiser and her mother, alleges that: Morenweiser had received good grades and was popular with classmates but in the spring of 2008 female students began bullying and sexually harassing her in ways prohibited by the school district's policies against such conduct.
Her stepfather, Timothy Kennedy, who had been a teacher in the district for 20 years, told Katherine Rybak, the high school guidance counselor, that Morenweiser was being bullied at school. Rybak promised but failed to notify other teachers of the Kennedys’ complaint, violating the district's conduct policies.
In the fall of 2008, Kennedy and Morenweiser's mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, told CHS principal Todd Lindstrom about the harassment and asked for a meeting to stop the conduct. Lindstrom refused to hold the meeting. <<<<< i know THIS tactic first hand! The Kennedys next asked Park Falls police officer Mark Richter, who is also the school liaison officer, for help with the bullying of their daughter. Instead of investigating the complaint, Richter brought the harassing girls and Morenweiser together and threatened to charge them with disorderly conduct.
Tim Kennedy then told Park Falls Police Chief Scott Straetz of Richter's handling of the ongoing harassment of Morenweiser. The next day Lindstrom met with Straetz, Rybak and Kennedy and instead of discussing how to comply with the district's anti-harassment and bullying policies, Straetz, Rybak and Lindstrom warned Kennedy not to accuse them of not doing their jobs.
According to the suit, they implied that Kennedy's continued reporting of his stepdaughter's harassment could result in an unspecified job action against him.
The bullying and sexually harassing student conduct continued against Morenweiser for the remainder of the 2008-09 school year, the following summer and the next academic year. Meanwhile, school and police officials did nothing to halt the bullying or comply with state-mandated school policies against such student conduct, the suit alleges.
Kennedy's principal, Timothy Kief, did file two formal written disciplines against Kennedy in association with his complaints against the harassment Morenweiser received.
According to the complaint, the harassment against Morenweiser intensified in 2010, particularly by Lexi Palecek, then a CHS junior. In February, a student sent Palecek a text message telling her to quit harassing Morenweiser. Palecek showed the text to Rybak, who met with Morenweiser and Palecek and told Morenweiser to quit bullying Palecek. Morenweiser again told Rybak of the bullying by Palecek and other students but Rybak failed to take the non-discretionary response set out in district policies to curb bullying.Jacqueline Kennedy also told Lindstrom of text messages Palecek had sent bragging about the harassment of Morenweiser, but Lindstrom accused Morenweiser of sending the text.
The harassment spread to entries on Facebook pages telling Morenweiser that "you suck at life" and "you should just die and go to hell."
Lindstrom, Rybak and District Administrator Mark Luoma were notified of the harassing comments but did nothing in response, even though the district's anti-hazing policy recognizes that such conduct creates a risk of emotional harm. Ignoring complaints from Morenweiser and her parents of sexual harassment and bullying by others should have put school officials on notice that Morenweiser might harm herself, the suit states.
The suit alleges the distress Morenweiser felt from the student harassment and the officials' failure to address it caused her to attempt suicide.
Morenweiser's attorney, Robert Elliott, said the officials' lack of response was most "disheartening" to Morenweiser's parents.
"What was disheartening to my clients is that procedures weren't followed. People dropped the ball and I can only guess why," he said.
During the suicide attempt, the bullet entered Morenweiser's spine causing her a lifetime disability that Elliott said has a cost "in the tens of millions just for her care," that he will attempt to recover in the suit.
Calls to Luoma's, Lindstrom's and Rybak's offices were not returned before deadline.
The suit contends that Rybak, Lindstrom and Luoma were so deliberately indifferent to Morenweiser's complaints that it deprived her of education opportunities guaranteed under federal law. The claim against Palecek contends her behavior was so malicious and intentional and resulted in injury to Morenweiser that it violates state law.
The suit filed by Morenweiser and her mother names Lindstrom, Rybak, Luoma, Palecek and the school district as defendants and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against them.