Mother says Shawnee Mission school district officials failed to report abuse: lawsuit
A mother of a Bluejacket-Flint Elementary School student has sued the Shawnee Mission School District alleging the district failed to report abuse to her when a teacher kicked her daughter.
Video of the incident was released last year and the teacher was fired after the district completed its investigation.
The lawsuit, filed in January in Johnson County District Court and moved to federal court on Monday, contends the school is to inform parents the day of an emergency intervention and provide them documentation by the following school day.
The mother contends that no one attempted to contact her to inform her of the incident and that, had the child not told her mother what happened, it is possible it would never have been reported. Moreover, her daughter would have returned to school to “possibly suffer more abuse at the hands” of the teacher.
The lawsuit contends the girl’s civil rights were violated and that the district was negligent in the hiring, training and supervision of the teacher.
The mother, identified only by her initials in the lawsuit, sued on her own behalf and as a guardian of her 6-year-old daughter, who was in kindergarten at the time. The lawsuit is filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas.
Named as defendants are the school district; the former teacher, Crystal Smith; school board president Heather Ousley and Teddi Pendland, the principal of the school at the time of the alleged incident.
A spokesman for the Shawnee Mission School District said the district doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Lawsuit
According to the suit:
The alleged incident, which was captured on video camera, occurred in February last year when Smith dropped the girl and her classmates off for library time and left. The school is located at 11615 W. 49th Street in Shawnee.
While in the library, the daughter created some artwork, looked for a book to check out and then helped other students clean up. When the daughter went to check out the book, she couldn’t find her artwork which she thought she placed in the book. She eventually found it on the ground, but it was crumpled making her upset.
As she approached the librarian to show her the damaged artwork, Smith returned to the library. The girl then went to get in line with the other students, but it appeared Smith told her to stand out of line by some bookshelves.
The girl sat on the floor next to the bookshelves and as her classmates left, she crawled into an opening on the bookshelf, “crouched in what appeared to be fear of Smith,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends that Smith went to the bookshelf and “forcefully grabbed” the girl and “yanked her out of the bookcase.” Smith allegedly pinned the girl’s arm behind her back, causing her pain.
Smith then asked the librarian to contact the principal for help. While the librarian’s back was turned, the suit contends that Smith forcefully kicked the girl while she was lying on the ground.
That was Smith’s first year teaching in the district.
The girl’s mother learned of the incident when she picked her up after school. She confronted Smith, who denied inflicting any harm on the child. Smith told the mother that the girl was not being truthful and suggested any harm or marks may have been self-inflicted.
The mother spoke with Pendland and requested the video camera to be reviewed, which Pendland agreed to do.
A little over a week later, the mother requested a release of records, including any emergency safety intervention reports. Pendland responded with a report written nearly a week after the incident in which Smith admitted that she grabbed the girl “by the arms and pulled her out of the bookshelf. She then kicked the student.”
The mother seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
