Lawsuit: Mo. girl expelled for making rape claim
A southwestern Missouri school district has denied accusations in a federal lawsuit that officials failed to protect a middle-school girl from being raped, calling the lawsuit "frivolous" and saying the girl "neglected to use reasonable means to protect herself."
The girl, identified as a 7th grade special education student, was raped twice during the course of two school years, according to the lawsuit filed July 5 against Republic School District in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The lawsuit was first reported by the Springfield News-Leader newspaper in Missouri Wednesday.
A boy pleaded guilty in juvenile court to unspecified charges after the family notified police when the girl was raped a second time, the newspaper reported. The girl, her mother and the boy are identified by their initials in the lawsuit (PDF), which, like the school district's response (PDF), is available on the News-Leader's website.
Officials identified in the lawsuit are school principal Patricia Mithelavage, school counselor Joni Ragain and school resource officer Robert Duncan.
The girl was first raped at Republic Middle School in the spring of 2009, according to the lawsuit. After the mother notified the school, the girl described the rape and "multiple sexual assaults" she'd experienced at school that year to Duncan, Mithelavage and Ragain. They then told the mother that they thought that her daughter made it all up.
During subsequent meetings described in the lawsuit as "intimidating interrogations," the lawsuit says the officials told the girl that they thought she was lying about the rape. The girl's mother was later told that her daughter recanted her story during one of those meetings.
The family's lawyers note in the lawsuit that the girl's school file contains a psychological report describing her as adverse to conflict, passive and "would forego her own needs and wishes to satisfy the request of others around so that she can be accepted."
Following instructions from the school, the girl wrote an apology to the boy she accused of raping her and had to personally give it to him, according to the lawsuit. She was then expelled for the remainder of the 2008-09 school year. The school also told "juvenile authorities" that she filed a false report.
The girl returned to the middle school for the 2009-10 school year and tried to avoid the boy, according to the lawsuit. It didn't work. She was sexually assaulted again but didn't tell anyone because she was afraid of being expelled again, her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. She was allegedly raped a second time Feb. 16, 2010.
School officials were notified of the incident and allegedly doubted the girl's claim, saying they'd "already been through this," according to the lawsuit. The girl was also examined and found to have been sexually assaulted. However, she was suspended from school for "disrespectful conduct" and "public display of affection," her lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
The school district denies all of the family's claims, saying that if anything happened it was the "result of the negligence, carelessness, or conduct of third parties over whom the District Defendants had neither control nor the right to control."
The News-Leader reported Wednesday that local prosecutors found out about the lawsuit Monday night and were reviewing police reports to see if the school district violated any laws requiring abuse allegations to be reported to authorities.
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I told my mom that I saw some kids taking pills. My friend saw the same and told her mom. My friend's mom called the school and complained to the principal without us knowing it. Mrs. Mithelavage and the principal at the time took me out into the hallway. They didn't take me to an office and ask to talk to me. They just went off on what a horrible thing it was that I did telling my mom lies. While crying because I was frightened, I told them I did see the kids taking pills and talking about weird reactions they were having. She dismissed my experience and said they were only NoDoz pills and they weren't actual drugs as I had said. I told her I had no idea what they were and I hadn't told anyone anything except my mom and I said "pills" not drugs.
At that moment, I remember thinking that I didn't want to tell my mom or teachers anything anymore even if it were true. I was a timid girl that would rather suffer than get into trouble. Unfortunately, I began to be sexually abused a couple of years after that and although it was obviously not the school's fault, that frightening experience made me doubt myself and created a fear of telling secrets.
If this little girl felt that same fear (and guilt when she'd done nothing wrong), I feel so sorry that she couldn't find safety and support in those she should be able to trust. What a painful experience that will stay with her always.
The School is going to lose and the girl still has to live the rest of her life dealing with these traumatic events.
Laywers = EVIL
MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER by Nathan McCall [born 1955]
Prof Afro Am studies-Emory U. Published 1994 page 44
"Different groups of guys set up their own trains. Although everybody knew it could lead to trouble with the law, I think few guys thought of it as rape. It was viewed as a social thing among hanging partners, like passing a joint. The dude who set up the train got pats on the back. He was considered a real player whose rap game was strong.
I think most girls gave in when trains were sprung on them because they went into shock. They were so utterly unprepared for anything that wild that it freaked them out. By the time they realized that they'd been set up, they were stripped naked, lying on a bed or in the backseat of a car, with a crowd of crazed looking dudes hovering overhead.
I always wondered what went on inside girls' heads when that was happening to them.
Afterward, most girls were too ashamed and freaked out to tell.
They knew that if they snitched to the cops, the thing would become public news and their name would be mud. But every now and then, some chick squealed, and somebody caught a charge. Then guys got their buddies to go to court and testify that the girl was a footloose 'ho' whom they each had boned.
Most girls seemed to lose something vital inside after they'd been trained. Their self esteem dropped and they didn't care about themselves anymore. That happened to a girl named Shirley, who was once trained by Scobe and so many other guys that she was hospitalized. After that, I guess she figured nobody wanted her as a straight up girl.
So Shirley let guys run trains on her all the time. .... end quote
http://www.amazon.com/Makes-Me-Wanna-Holler-America/dp/0679740708
http://www.nathanmccall.net/
Must read for anyone interested in how USA got into its present precarious race relations condition.
SOUL ON ICE by [the late] Eldridge Cleaver also sheds light on how current American racial relations came to be. Cleaver explained why raping White women was a good freedom fighter activity.
Tyreece DeKwan Lewis, 17,and Robert Marquis Lee,.....Beatrice Culbertson
She reported it, she asked for help, they refused to help and in fact punished her and even after there is physical evidence they continue to blame the victim. Why did they refuse to protect her? Why did they keep her in contact with him, why did they expel her but not him? Why didn't they call the police?
She is a CHILD, the school is supposed to protect her, not tell her that it is her own fault she was raped, especially since rape is NEVER the victim's fault.
All 3 school officials should be fired and I sincerely hope the girl and her family go after them and the school district in both civil and criminal court. The boy needs counseling and should not be allowed to walk the streets for a good long time.
Under no circumstances should the 3 school officials ever be allowed to be responsible for a child's welfare, ever again.