INDIANAPOLIS — UPDATE: IMPD has opened an investigation into the incident at the request of the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.
A 7-year-old boy and his mother are filing a lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools, as well as some of its staff members, after the second-grader was allegedly attacked by other students — and a teacher recorded the incident and supposedly encouraged the violence.
The alleged incidents happened at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87, located at 2411 Indianapolis Ave. near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Fall Creek Boulevard.
The complaint lists IPS, Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson, the principal, the vice principal, a behavioral consultant, a substitute teacher and a teacher.
(NOTE: 13News is not naming the people who aren't publicly identified through the district since formal criminal charges have not been filed by prosecutors.)
According to the complaint, the student has disabilities, including "sensory sensitivities, an executive function disorder and probable learning disabilities."
The complaint says the boy regularly came home sad and upset after school, telling his mother that he was abused, bullied and harassed during class.
According to the complaint, the teacher orchestrated what the plaintiffs described as a "fight club-type of discipline in his classroom over the span of three months, in which the teacher allegedly encouraged, instigated and on at least one occasion, recorded on his phone physical abuse by other students.
The recorded incident came to light during a parent-teacher conference on Nov. 1. Parents were meeting with the teacher, regarding the boy's mother's concerns as to what was happening at the school.
During the parent-teacher conference, the teacher was allegedly going to show a video of the classroom environment to the parents. However, instead of showing that video, he inadvertently began showing a different video, in which the 7-year-old boy was being attacked by another student.
The complaint says the boy's mother tried to grab the teacher's phone, which allegedly caused him to inadvertently turn up the volume where the parents could hear that it was the teacher instigating the attack and supposedly encouraging the other student to continually hit the boy.
"'Are you done yet?' That's the teacher saying that to these children as he's beating up on this little boy. 'Are you done yet?' It's shocking," said Tammy Meyer, who is one of the attorneys representing the family.
In the video, you can hear the attacking child continually say, "don't mess with me," while the boy getting hit is crying.
(NOTE: 13News is not sharing the full video of the attack, which was sent by the boy's and his mother's lawyers. In the report, 13News has also decided to remove the audio of the boy being attacked due to the disturbing nature of the incident.)
Toward the end of the video, the 7-year-old boy who was attacked can be heard saying through his cries, "I didn't mess with him," before the person recording the video is heard telling the boys to "go back to your spot."
The complaint refers to two other instances in which the teacher allegedly held the boy down while allowing other students to punch, hit and kick him.
"It appears that this was being used as a disciplinary technique in his classroom. Instead of beating a child senselessly himself, at least according to what we have, he was allowing another child to do it," said Catherine Michael, who is also representing the family in the lawsuit.
The boy's mother said she reported the alleged abuse to multiple staff members at the school prior to filing the lawsuit.
The complaint says the boy's mother met with the teacher on multiple occasions to discuss the child's allegations, which the teacher reportedly dismissed as behavioral issues and indicated that the boy was lying and/or mentally ill.
"The substitute teacher, at least recorded in DCS documents said, 'That's bad kids, and that's what you do,'" Michael said. "And rather than being trained as mandatory reporters, rather than stopping abuse from happening in a classroom, we're seeing within this school district that has a responsibility to train educators, to supervise educators, allowing them to run amuck."
The Indiana Department of Child Services began investigating after the video was shown at the parent-teacher conference.
DCS spoke with Troy Harris, who is in charge of human resources for IPS. Harris said he was aware of the video in which "(The teacher) recorded the physical altercation between the students and did not intervene or separate them during the incident ... (the teacher) was encouraging (the other student) to continue to fight the (boy)."
The complaint says the boy has not returned to in-person school since the video was inadvertently shown on Nov. 1. He is instead being homeschooled and is undergoing counseling, and his mental health providers diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The teacher is not listed as a current staff member at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87. An IPS spokesperson later confirmed the teacher resigned before the district could fire him.
The plaintiffs are requesting a jury trial.
Meyer said it's still possible the teacher could face criminal charges.
"We are seeing in some of these cases that charges aren't being filed for over a year. So, just because charges haven't been filed yet, does not mean they are not going to be filed. It could happen," Meyer said.
13News reached out to DCS for a comment, which responded with the following statement:
"While we cannot discuss specific cases due to strict confidentiality laws, it’s important to remind people that every Hoosier is a mandatory reporter of suspected child abuse and neglect. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglect, call the Indiana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline immediately at 1-800-800-5556."
Wednesday afternoon, IPS released the following statement about the investigation:
"IPS does not tolerate the type of behavior alleged in the complaint and takes reports of potential abuse and neglect seriously. When IPS learned of the teacher’s conduct, the Department of Child Services (DCS) was immediately notified, and the teacher was removed from the classroom and suspended. The teacher had no further contact with students and is no longer employed by IPS.
- IPS was not aware of any fights encouraged or sanctioned by this or any other teacher from the student’s parents or otherwise, until the parent emailed the principal at 6:58 p.m. Oct. 30.
- The principal first viewed this email early morning the next day (Oct 31), and immediately contacted DCS and IPS Human Resources.
- The teacher was immediately removed from the building and never returned to the classroom.
- The teacher was interviewed by Human Resources on November 2 as part of its investigation into the matter. The employee resigned during that meeting before IPS could initiate termination proceedings, which the district was prepared to do based on the information received from the internal investigation.
Because this matter is the subject of pending litigation, it is inappropriate to comment further on our investigation of this matter."
Child abuse and neglect resources
If you think a child is being abused or neglected, call the DCS Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556.
If you can, provide DCS with the following information:
- Who was involved
- What occurred
- When and where it occurred
- The extent of any injuries sustained
- Any other relevant information
Even if you don't know all that information, DCS urges you to call and report if you suspect a child is a victim of abuse or neglect. State law requires DCS to protect the identity of those reporting abuse or neglect allegations, so you can remain anonymous.
There is more information available at the Indiana Department of Child Services website.
If you would like to help victims of child abuse and neglect, Kids' Voice of Indiana has a Court-Appointed Special Advocate program. This lets volunteers advocate for child victims who don't have another trusted adult to stand up for them. You can learn more about the CASA program here. Kids' Voice estimates more than 3,100 kids in Marion County need help from a CASA volunteer.