4 students took turns forcibly penetrating 3rd-grade girl in restroom, blocked her escape, got 1-day suspensions: Lawsuit

A lawsuit claims four students took turns forcibly penetrating a third-grade girl in a restroom stall, blocked her escape, and received one-day suspensions, OregonLive reported.

The lawsuit claims employees of both Portland Public Schools and a Multnomah County-sponsored after-school program operated by nonprofit Latino Network failed to protect the girl — who was 9 at the time — from being sexually assaulted, the outlet noted.

The girl's family filed the lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court last month; it seeks up to $9 million in damages on grounds including negligence, lack of oversight, and failure to protect a vulnerable person from abuse, OregonLive said.

What are the details?

The lawsuit alleges that when the student was in third grade at Scott Elementary in northeast Portland in 2022, one of her classmates touched her genitals over her clothing without her permission during a class a district educator was overseeing, the outlet said.

In a separate incident that same school year, the suit states that another student tried to kiss the girl without her permission, and she hit him to protect herself, OregonLive reported.

The suit notes that both of those students were suspended, and the school told the girl’s father that it would create a “safety plan” for her, the outlet noted.

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But in a separate incident in April of that same year, the suit alleges, two other students in the after-school Schools Uniting Neighborhoods, or SUN, program told the girl that they would “find out where she lived” unless she told the after-school program’s staff that she needed to go to the bathroom.

She did so, the lawsuit alleges, and the students followed her there, locked her in a stall, removed her pants and took turns forcibly penetrating her as she protested. She couldn’t escape, the lawsuit charges, because her alleged assaulters took turns blocking the stall doors.

The father of one of the male students who was involved heard about the incident and reported it to school staffers, the outlet said, citing the lawsuit.

But instead of notifying police, “PPS staff undertook their own internal investigation" and interviewed the girl without immediately notifying her family or legal representatives, OregonLive noted, citing the lawsuit.

What's more, the lawsuit states that the alleged perpetrators were suspended for one day, the outlet stated.

Six days after the incident, the plaintiff’s father brought his daughter to Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel for a medical evaluation, OregonLive reported, citing court documents. A week later, CARES Northwest — a child abuse evaluation program — heard the girl's story and concluded that “the history provided was highly concerning for sexual abuse,” the outlet said, citing the lawsuit.

OregonLive said the girl's father soon transferred her and her younger brother to a different district school, according to the lawsuit, which adds that the process took a month and interrupted their education. In addition, the girl has been coping with trauma, pain, suffering, social anxiety, and academic setbacks, the outlet said, citing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that Portland Public Schools and SUN program affiliates are liable for not teaching students about sexual boundaries, not enforcing rules around sexual behavior on school property, and not communicating with other adult caregivers in regard to the plaintiff’s history and safety concerns, OregonLive said.

“The district learned of these new allegations last week when we received the lawsuit, and we are investigating,” Sydney Kelly, a spokesperson for Portland Public Schools, told the outlet. “We are mandatory reporters, meaning we must report any instance of possible child abuse and neglect. We take our responsibilities as mandatory reporters seriously and follow the law around reporting.”

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