MEAD, Wash. — Mead School District is being sued by the parents of a high school football player for alleged abuse by fellow teammates.
They say it happened more than a year ago during summer at training camp at Eastern Washington University -- but wasn't reported to police until eight months later.
Parents first reported it as a sexual assault, after cellphone video surfaced, showing at least four football players assaulting teammates with a massage gun.
KREM 2 broke the story -- now at least five Mead students have come forward, claiming it happened to them too.
In newly filed court documents, the parents say the district "did not provide adequate safety during the football camp, did not prevent harassment, intimidation or bullying, did not protect its students, and engaged in a clear pattern of institutional indifference."
In the complaint, it claims negligence, institutional indifference and failure to report the incident against the school district.
The complaint says the school district did not do the following:
- Did not provide adequate safety during a school-sponsored football camp
- Did not prevent harassment, intimidation, bullying, and/or hazing
- Did not protect its students from harmful or offensive contacts
- Did not take action to prevent harmful or offensive contact during the football camp by leaving boys in Mead High School’s football program unattended
- Did not adequately train personnel how to professionally monitor or supervise overnight school-sponsored sports camps, or how to handle reports of observed or unobserved violence, despite obvious need and the severity of harms that can occur
- Did not report assaults to the proper authority in violation of policies, procedures and state law
Two additional teenagers and their families are preparing to file a second lawsuit against the Mead School District. They allege that they were assaulted at a football camp last year and have faced ongoing harassment and retaliation since then.
A filed tort claim by the Connelly Law Offices states that the football camp, held annually at Eastern Washington University, has "a history of racial harassment, assaults and intolerance against students of color." The claim alleges that Mead coaches and administrators ignored these issues. The documents assert that multiple players "endured intimidation and routine racial slurs," including being called the n-word and "monkeys," and were labeled as "snitches" and told they "should be leashed." The claim further accuses Mead employees of ignoring their own policies and failing to initiate a thorough investigation, with parents not being notified until eight months later.
According to the school district's internal investigation findings, two students were assaulted during the EWU football camp in acts that had "typical characteristics of hazing" and "may represent sexual harassment assault." The district insists it investigated the incidents and offered to create safety plans for some of the alleged victims, but says those offers were refused. The report indicates that Mead Principal Kimberly Jensen was informed of the cell phone videos in early December, but she claims she did not watch the videos or notify parents until late February.
The parents are suing, saying the district failed to act, and protect students -- and that administrators ignored their own policies to end a culture of harassment on the team or to prevent future harassment.
The parents also claim the Mead district failed to notify parents of what happened to their kids and ignored its own polices as mandatory reporters of any kind of sexual assault claim.
They are seeking unspecified damages.
Mead School District superintendent Hanson released the following statement regarding the recent court filing:
"As reported by local news agencies in recent weeks, Mead School District has received tort claims filed on behalf of five individual families in connection with incidents involving students from Mead High School. We are aware that one of those families filed a lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court on Tuesday. Given the other previously filed tort claims, we anticipate additional court filings connected to some of the same incidents. Defense of these claims is being handled by attorneys retained by Mead School District’s insurance carrier. Decisions regarding legal strategy and any comment on the allegations in the complaint are at the discretion of attorneys representing the district. Our attorneys have asked that we allow the facts to come forward in the context of the litigation. We recognize that litigation can be an inherently difficult process for all participants. The district does not want to make the process more difficult for the involved students or their families by debating the matter publicly."