Parents say East Porter school ignored bullying complaints
By Teresa Auch Schultz tauch@post-trib.com November 23, 2011 3:10PM
Updated: December 26, 2011 8:52AM
A Porter County couple claim East Porter County Schools didn’t stop their child from being bullied by both students and staff, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.
George and Debbie Stahl say in the suit that district officials knew staff and students had bullied and harassed their child for several years but did not stop it. Their child attended Morgan Township Middle/High School.
The Stahls met with administrators in February to discuss the bullying, according to the suit, and “without cause” the district banned them from any East Porter County School property for a year.
East Porter Superintendent Rod Gardin said that he believed when the judge had reviewed the facts of the case that it would be dismissed.
“We are very proactive in safeguarding our kids from bullying,” he said.
The couple also name the Porter Township School Corp. in the lawsuit, claiming they talked to officials at the nearby school district about letting their child enroll as an out-of-district student.
According to the lawsuit, officials at Boone Grove Middle School told them at first that it did accept out-of-district students. However, the school later said it had talked with East Porter and it would not let the Stahls’ child enroll.
Porter Township superintendent Nicholas Brown could not be reached to comment.
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