The parents of a Triad Middle School student who killed herself have sued the district.
Bethany Thompson’s parents filed a federal lawsuit last month. Thompson, then 11 years old, committed suicide in 2016.
“Bethany’s parents filed this lawsuit to force the school to reform its anti-bullying policies, and also to raise awareness of bullying in general,” Natasha Wells-Niklas, an attorney for the family, said in a statement. “They want people to know that this is a very serious issue. It has real-world effects, and it costs young people their lives.”
Triad Superintendent Vickie Hoffman said student safety is “of utmost priority for our school district and its administrators.”
“We are committed to providing a safe and nurturing learning environment for our students Hoffman wrote in a statement.
In addition to Hoffman, the suit names former Superintendent Christopher Piper, the Triad Local School District’s board of education, former Middle School Principal Duane Caudill, Middle School counselor Jessica Gronas along with unknown former and current students, employees, administrators and teachers as defendants.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court, Southern District Of Ohio, Western Division, seeks unspecified damages along with changes in how the district trains employees and students about issues such as bullying and discrimination and respond to them.
“The district has always had policies in compliance with state and federal laws and it updates those policies when state or federal laws require,” district officials said in a statement. “The district continues to take very seriously all concerns brought forward about bullying and harassment, investigates those concerns and takes actions immediately to properly address all complains of bullying and harassment between and among students.”
According to the suit, Thompson was diagnosed with brain cancer as a child. While she successfully underwent treatment, she suffered nerve damage that left her face permanently drawn upward.
“Bethany’s family lovingly referred to the facial difference as her ‘crooked smile,’” according to the suit.
The suit alleges that for many years Thompson “endured harassment and bullying at school at the hands of numerous students, much of it based on her “crooked” smile, disability, curly hair and her gender.”
According to the suit, Thompson was subjected to “pervasive verbal and physical harassment, including constant name-calling and pushing and shoving in hallways, classrooms, at recess and on the bus.”
According to the suit, Thompson, her parents, a friend and that friend’s parents all informed district officials of the alleged bullying.
“The severe and pervasive bullying, verbal harassment, physical harassment and discrimination were not ‘handled’ as promised by the School District and the severe and pervasive bullying, verbal harassment, physical harassment and discrimination continued and worsened in the 2016-2017 school year,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges that during the first month of the school year, Thompson began expressing suicidal thoughts. She said that if the school wouldn’t do something about the bullying, she would handle the situation with a gun.
A friend told her father she was concerned Thompson wanted to kill herself. The father contacted school officials who told him they were monitoring the situation and would contact the girl’s family.
“Bethany’s friend’s father did the right thing. He called the school. He told them about the ongoing bullying and the suicide threats. No one listened to him,” Wells-Niklas wrote.
According to the lawsuit, the district never contacted Thompson’s family members.
On Oct. 19, 2016, Thompson told friends she was suicidal. The friends told parents, but by the time the parents were able to contact Thompson’s mother, the girl had already taken her life.
“Throughout the years of harassment and discrimination, the defendants knew or should have known about this harassment,” according to the suit. “The defendants were informed by many parties that the harassment was severe and pervasive. Plaintiff Wendy Feucht (Thompson’s mother) informed the school administration and asked for help. School officials did nothing to stop the bullying and harassment.”
The suit alleges that other students at Triad have been bullied and cites the 2012 suicide of another Triad Middle School student.
“While it is unknown whether bullying was a precipitating cause of that child’s death such allegations exist in the Triad community,” according to the suit. “The 2012 suicide should have put the school district on high alert as to the psychological and emotional needs of its students and should have prompted the school to adopt a zero tolerance policy regarding aggressive and harassing behavior. It did not. The school continued to fail in its duties to its students and failed to adhere to its own policies regarding suicidal behavior and bullying, all to the detriment of Bethany Thompson and her parents.”
In a statement, district officials said suicide among children is “a very complicated issue.”
“It is rare that a single aspect of a child’s life results in a child’s suicide,” according to the statement.
The statement indicates self harm and suicidal thoughts are the result of “a combination of pressures felt by the child.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and changes in how the district trains employees and students about issues such as bullying and discrimination.
Wells-Niklas wrote that she hopes the suit will help the family “accomplish something good out of something very, very bad that has happened to them.”
“In this case, Bethany’s parents have lost their daughter but they hope that through this tragedy they can at least bring about change that will prevent this from happening to another child,” Wells-Niklas wrote.
Officials from the school district did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.