District’s Failure to Supervise May Have Resulted in Sexual Assault of Student With Intellectual Disability

February 4, 2021- William J. Zee, Esq.

In a recent case that should garner the attention of school districts processing through recent changes in the law addressing sexual misconduct, the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ,  recently held that the school district may have violated the student’s constitutional rights when it failed to prevent the sexual assault of a student with an intellectual disability by a classmate. A.A. v. School Dist. of Philadelphia, 120 LRP 36641 (E.D. Pa. 11/19/20)

When a classroom assistant escorted plaintiff and a classmate to the bathroom it is alleged that the assistant failed to supervise the boys at the door of the bathroom, instead waiting outside in the hallway. As a result, the classmate allegedly sexually assaulted plaintiff, an 11-year-old with an intellectual disability.

The school district’s policy required staffers to supervise students eligible for special education services by "standing in the doorway of the bathroom with the door open." The Court opined that the assistant acted deliberately indifferent by defying the school district's policy on bathroom supervision and disregarding the student's claims of assault after the incident. The Court found that the classroom assistant should have known that the student was at risk of harm when she left the boys alone in the bathroom. Additionally, the Court determined that the classroom assistant's decision to take the boys to the bathroom and leave them unsupervised likely increased the student's vulnerability to the assault.

As a result, the Court declined to dismiss the parent’s Section 1983 claims.

Should you have any questions about this decision, or any other issue impacting schools, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the attorneys in the Appel, Yost & Zee Education group.