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Parent files lawsuit against Cedar Springs schools

Posted at 2:57 PM, Jun 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-15 14:58:04-04

CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. — A lawsuit filed this week in federal court alleges that administrators at Cedar Springs Public Schools neglected to address an assault on their campus.

The lawsuit was filed by the mother of a girl who was 15 years old and a sophomore at Cedar Springs High School at the time of the alleged incidents.

Beginning in the fall of 2014, the lawsuit alleges, a male student with an adjoining locker to the girl began to “slam the door of the lockers” into her. The suit says she reported the behavior to a school security officer, who told her the boy “likely had a crush” on her and was probably “flirting.”

The lawsuit says that when another administrator was notified about the incidents, she told the girl that “it’s horseplay” and that there was nothing the district could do about it.

The harassment is alleged to have continued, and on Oct. 9 of that year, the defendant is said to have slammed the locker door into the girl’s head so hard that it left her with lasting pain.

The lawsuit claims that security video of this incident existed, but that school officials have stated that it was “too blurry” to make out anything definitive.

The filing says that the girl was taken to the hospital after this, being diagnosed with “vestibular dysfunction, including dizziness, fatigue and some memory dysfunction,” as well as “daily headaches.”

The girl was apparently not able to return to school until Oct. 17, 2014.  At some point after this, the girl’s parents filed a complaint with police. The lawsuit claims the defendant was eventually charged with assault and battery. After this, the lawsuit says the girl was taunted and bullied by the defendant and his friends.

The parents allege in the lawsuit, among other things, that the school failed to take any action that would address the harassment against their daughter.

They are asking for compensatory and punitive damages from the school district, as well as a an injunction that would require the district to take steps to avoid similar incidents in the future.

FOX 17 reached out to school administration but was told they currently have no knowledge of the lawsuit being filed.