Friday, January 09, 2009

More filings in bullying case

Last March, Erin wrote about a NYT profile of a victim of peer harassment in an Arkansas high school. The victim, Billy Wolfe, has since graduated from Fayetteville High School but there was, as Erin predicted there would be, a federal lawsuit filed against the school district. And then, this past week, Wolfe's attorney added to the original filing a 56-page brief that highlights the indifference of school administrators to the situation.
The details of Wolfe's abuse can be found in the NYT profile.
They are so egregious that one has to wonder how school officials could not know what was going on. And if they truly had no idea...well one has to wonder exactly what they were paying attention to.
Wolfe's attorney will have to prove the school knew about the harassment but did not take steps to prevent future incidences in order to legitimate the Title IX claim. There was nothing in the article that indicated what that evidence might be. Though, again, hard to miss what seems very obvious.
A trial date has been set for September.