LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Two southern Indiana parents filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging their 7-year-old son — an elementary school student with developmental delays and language impairments — was repeatedly sexually abused on a school bus.
Attorney Larry Wilder said in a news release Monday that the child — whose name will be withheld in this story for privacy reasons — was “sexually molested by a significantly older student on multiple occasions” for months in the 2023-24 school year.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Clark County Circuit Court, claims the abuse happened on special education bus operated by Greater Clark County Schools and equipped with a bus monitor.
“Children with developmental delays and language impairments face unique challenges that require additional protection, not less,” Wilder said in a news release. “Instead, this child was effectively silenced — unable to clearly articulate what was happening to him while the adults responsible for his care were derelict in their duties.”
On top of accusing the school district of failure to protect their child, the parents blame both the bus driver and bus monitor onboard. Wilder and the parents’ other attorney, Zach Stewart, said the bus monitor sat in the front of the bus “frequently engaged with his cell phone and failed to monitor or supervise the students sitting behind him.”
“Had the monitor simply done his job and observed what was going on behind him, this abuse could have been stopped before it ever began, or at the very least prevented from recurring,” Stewart said in a news release.
The lawsuit goes on to allege the student in question wasn’t just the victim of the abuse but witnessed the “repeated molestation” of other students by the same older student. Wilder and Stewart said the school district failed to protect the victim.
“This child was placed in an environment where he should have been protected, but instead he was subjected to ongoing trauma,” Wilder said in a news release. “This wasn’t a one-time incident — this happened over and over again while adults who were supposed to be responsible turned a blind eye.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for physical and emotional harm as well as accountability from GCCS.
“Greater Clark County Schools had a duty to ensure all children on their buses, especially those who are most vulnerable, are safe,” Stewart said in a news release. “They failed. They failed our client, and they failed every child on that bus.”
This story will be updated.
