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The dad and mom of an 8-year-old lady are suing a Los Angeles-area personal faculty for allegedly failing to take motion towards a “Kissing Membership” that was began by older college students who they are saying bullied and sexually assaulted their daughter.
Pantea Kipnis, the kid’s mom, stated in an announcement to The Instances that she got here ahead to boost consciousness so different households wouldn’t undergo.
“Simply since you ship your children to a prestigious personal faculty [doesn’t mean] they are going to essentially be protected there,” Kipnis stated.
On the time of the alleged bullying and sexual abuse, the kid was a 7-year-old pupil at Sierra Canyon Faculty in Chatsworth, a personal college-preparatory faculty for college students in pre-Okay by twelfth grade. The household’s legal professional, Samuel Dordulian, stated at a Tuesday information convention that the kid was not enrolled within the faculty.
The Kipnis household is suing for unspecified damages and legal professional charges.
Thursday night, Sierra Canyon Faculty launched an announcement to the varsity group saying it couldn’t remark intimately on lively litigation, “however we wish to be clear that the allegations are unfaithful and don’t precisely replicate what occurred.”
“We’ve got by no means ignored issues associated to pupil care,” the assertion stated. “When questions had been raised in the summertime of 2024, we reviewed them comprehensively and instantly took proactive measures we decided had been applicable.”
The bullying by older college students included name-calling, “peeking by the lavatory stall whereas the kid used the lavatory” and pressuring others to commit sexual acts, based on the criticism filed Monday. Throughout faculty hours, a number of 7- and 8-year-old feminine college students would collect contained in the bogs to take part within the Kissing Membership, based on the lawsuit.
Two 8-year-olds pressured, intimidated and bullied the youthful college students to hitch the membership, together with the then-7-year-old sufferer, based on Monday’s swimsuit. The kid was pressured to kiss the others within the membership and compelled to kiss and contact the genital areas of the 2 older ladies, the lawsuit alleges.
Throughout an inside investigation, it was discovered that among the acts had been recorded on the ladies’ telephones, based on the lawsuit. The swimsuit says {that a} trainer took one of many college students’ telephones and despatched the movies of the acts to herself and confirmed them to different employees.
Earlier than the escalation of the Kissing Membership, Kipnis stated she had contacted Sierra Canyon Faculty to report the alleged bullying.
Based on Monday’s submitting, Kipnis additionally requested her daughter’s trainer to “regulate her to maintain her protected” and urged toilet monitoring.
To Kipnis’ information, no actions had been taken to guard her youngster from additional bullying, based on the criticism.
The lawsuit claims that Sierra Canyon Faculty ultimately grew to become conscious of the Kissing Membership and its actions however didn’t notify Kipnis, her husband, Max Kipnis, or the police.
Neither mum or dad had any concept that their daughter was being assaulted at college till Kipnis “was informed by one other mum or dad whose youngster was additionally assaulted by the identical ladies.”
The dad and mom are suing the varsity for failing to report their daughter’s alleged assault beneath California Division of Training’s necessary reporting legal guidelines that require faculty employees to report suspected youngster abuse.
“Please know that defending our college students and guaranteeing that the reality is upheld stay on the core of our mission,” the varsity stated in an announcement.
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