The Puyallup School District has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that a second-grade teacher abused an 8-year-old student with autism, Pierce County Superior Court records show.
The student’s parents filed a lawsuit last year alleging that during the 2022-23 school year, a teacher at Pope Elementary School repeatedly locked the plaintiff’s son out of the classroom, “left him alone in the hallway for long periods of time,” yanked his arm and yelled at him multiple times. The teacher had previously been the subject of a complaint for allegedly assaulting another student with behavioral needs, the lawsuit states.
The district was accused of inappropriately placing the plaintiff’s son in a general education classroom despite his special needs, but failed to take action to protect him after his mother repeatedly pleaded with the school, the suit said.
As a result of the alleged abuse, the boy’s behavior at home worsened and he began wetting the bed, throwing and breaking things and attacking others, the lawsuit states. The student reportedly had difficulty communicating verbally, suffered headaches and stomach pains, and said he did not want to go to school, documents state.
The school district denied any wrongdoing in a court-filed response to the allegations and sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.
PSD and the plaintiffs eventually reached a $300,000 settlement this summer, which was approved by the court last month, according to case documents filed Dec. 18.
“The settlement does not constitute an admission of fault or liability by the district. The district’s insurance company decided to settle the matter before trial to avoid additional costs associated with litigation,” PSD spokesperson Sarah Gillispie said in an email Tuesday. “The district remains committed to providing a safe and positive educational experience for all students.”
Dalia Ibrahim, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The News Tribune in October that the resolution would help provide the boy, known as NB in ​​legal documents, “the support he needs throughout his life.”
“This case was never about reparations,” Ibrahim said in a statement. “It was about responsibility and change.”
Ibrahim noted that the student’s family wants to see the district take immediate action.
“We continue to urge school districts to increase training, monitoring and reporting so that no other children experience what NB did,” she said. “Our focus now is on NB’s recovery and taking meaningful, measurable steps to keep every student safe.”
A Nov. 3 report prepared by the boy’s court-appointed representative, known as the guardian ad litem, revealed that in third grade, NB was “scared” about going back to school and struggled with behavioral issues that year, but he later enrolled in another school district and did much better. The representative called the settlement “reasonable and consistent with other resolutions in similar cases.”
