A Zion-Benton Township High School student allegedly stabbed by a classmate is suing the school district, saying it failed to follow its safety procedures and it should have recognized that the attacker posed a threat, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The suit alleges the victim, a 17-year-old girl, suffered “permanently disabling injuries” as a result of the Jan. 9 attack, which took place during a math class. Authorities said at the time that the victim suffered critical injuries.
The lawsuit was filed by the victim’s mother on her daughter’s behalf.
The alleged perpetrator, another 17-year-old female student, is facing juvenile charges. She and her mother are also named in the suit, in addition to School District 126.
The victim’s attorneys said the school failed to follow its own policies, which mandate that classroom doors are to be locked during instructional time.
The school also failed to address the potential risk posed by the alleged attacker and should have placed her into an alternative classroom program, based on the student’s history of disciplinary issues, according to attorneys Sean Burke and David Bawcum.
“This is an outrageous betrayal of the school’s students and families,” Bawcum said. “Parents send their kids to school with the expectation and the assurance that the school administrators and teachers will put the safety and best interests of their students first.
More Top Picks Nutribullet Slow Juicer
“To then find out it was an empty promise — that the policies and procedures intended to keep their children safe were not even being implemented — that is a massive abuse of parental trust, one that cannot be ignored,” he said.
Attempts to get a comment from the district office were unsuccessful.