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Parents file lawsuit over alleged sexual incident at Charles County school
In Charles County, the parents of the three fourth grade girls who claim they were sexually assaulted on their elementary school playground, have filed a complaint with the Justice Department Civil Rights Division.
CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - In Charles County, the parents of the three fourth grade girls who claim they were sexually assaulted on their elementary school playground, have filed a complaint with the Justice Department Civil Rights Division.
In the complaint, the girls’ parents argue Charles County Public Schools violated their daughters’ civil rights with the way CCPS handled the investigation – and continue to do so, as long as two of the boys involved remain enrolled at Gale-Bailey Elementary School.
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“Enough is enough,” said one of the alleged victim’s fathers, Seth Heisserman. “Do the right thing. Shut down the rape culture. Do the right thing and start disciplining these kids. Show what you’ll tolerate and what you want. And sexual harassment, sexual bullying, sexual assault cannot be tolerated in any way. You can’t just say that and say, ‘see something, say something,’ you have to act on it.”
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office told FOX 5 the sexual incident happened on October 29, 2019. The parents of the three 4th graders involved claim their daughters went to report on three boys in the same grade during recess at the school.
Tim Perrier, father to one of the girls involved, says the girls were dismissed and that shortly after, the boys had approached the girls by the playground and made very graphic and sexual comments. Perrier says the girls were threatened with rape and that one of the boys had tied his daughter’s hands. There was also inappropriate touching, according to the parents of the girls involved.
Another parent claims on the bus ride home that same day, more inappropriate contact happened on the bus between her daughter and one of the three boys, which allegedly came after the vice principal had the girls each write written statements explaining what they had experienced on the playground earlier.
On Wednesday, Kurt Wolfgang, executive director with the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, helped announce the DOJ complaint, saying the girls were “traumatized” and “terrified.” Wolfgang said the girls have not been able to go back to school since.
A 10-year-old boy was charged and removed from the school after the October 2019 incident. On November 26, close to a month later, FOX 5 learned Gale-Bailey Elementary School’s principal and vice-principal were also reassigned.
The complaint notes that two of the boys in the incident, including one who allegedly threatened the daughter of Senika Butler, are still enrolled at Gale-Bailey. Butler tells FOX 5 she works for the school system as a bus driver.
“It’s hurtful. It’s very hurtful that you know, I can’t trust them. They can trust me with other people’s children, but I can’t trust them,” said Butler.
“So long as the Student-Assailants are remain enrolled in Gale-Bailey Elementary School, the Student-Victims will be subjected to further, unnecessary trauma and danger,” the complaint reads.
“CCPS filed an initial response to the complaint on Jan. 6 that explained that the factual allegations set forth in the parents’ complaint are in dispute. The teachers who were supervising recess on the day in question vehemently deny observing or being made aware of any sexual assault while on the playground,” CCPS partially wrote in a statement.
CCPS Spokesperson Katie O’Malley-Simpson says the school system filed a response to the DOJ complaint. The school system is challenging some of the parents’ allegations, including the claim that the girls were dismissed by two teachers before the incident occurred.
CCPS also said it cannot remove the other two male students to regulations under the Maryland State Board of Education and that they attempted to set guidelines and work the parents so their daughters could return to class at Gale-Bailey Elementary.
CCPS also claims the incident may have started with one of the girls using “sexually vulgar language” first.
“I’m painfully aware of how damaged our girls were from that incident. And we all know and we’ve discussed privately with each other and with our families, all the struggles that our girls are going through from what they were exposed to that day. Their innocence was taken. And for the school system to continually say this was a game of tag, for them to minimize this and say it wasn’t that big of a deal or it was just words, there’s nothing else to call that other than lies,” said Heisserman.
The DOJ confirms with FOX 5 that they received the complaint dated Jan. 3, 2020.
You can read CCPS’ full response below or at this link:
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