Family Of Slain Dillard High Student Settles With Broward School Bd.
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) -- The Broward County School Board has settled a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Amanda Collette, the 15-year-old girl who was gunned down in the hallway of her Fort Lauderdale high school by a heartbroken classmate.
According to the Sun Sentinel, the school board unanimously agreed to pay $525,000 to Amanda's parents, Joyce Collette and Thomas Crowther.
Collette was shot and killed at Dillard High School in November 2008 by classmate Teah Wimberly after Collette rejected Wimberly's romantic advances. Now 17, Wimberly was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison. She's serving the first part of her sentence at a juvenile facility and, when she turns 21, will be transferred to an adult prison.
The lawsuit alleged that the school board disregarded the safety of its students after receiving prior notice that a student in the school had a handgun and intended to use it. The suit also said the school had hand-held metal detecting wands but did not use them on Nov. 12, 2008, the day of the shooting.
The Sentinel reports the school board does not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. The district's staff recommended approving the settlement to avoid the additional costs of a legal battle.
The newspaper reports that the money will come from an insured fund and will not affect the district's budget woes.