WILLARD, Mo. (AP) _ A lawsuit says staff at a southwest Missouri school
district failed to report two students had sexually assaulted a middle school classmate on a school bus.
The Springfield News-Leader reports the lawsuit names Willard Public
Schools and five employees. It alleges the district failed to properly supervise students at a December 2016 school event, didn’t comply with mandated reporter laws and didn’t safeguard the boy when he came forward. The suit says
he was bullied and harassed.
The family’s attorney, Jay Kirksey, says a hotline call wasn’t made to the
state’s Children’s Division until Willard’s longtime superintendent retired and
a new one was hired to lead the district in mid-2017. But Kirksey said that by
then it was “too late” and that the “harm was done.”
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI