Bellingham Public Schools responds to lawsuit alleging student’s assault report mishandled

Bellingham Public Schools has denied that it mishandled a student’s sexual assault reports brought to the attention of three high school administrators nearly a year ago and that the school district took reasonable steps to stop the reported harassment, according to the school district’s response filed Thursday in a federal civil rights lawsuit.

A 16-year-old female former Squalicum High School student filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Dec. 7 in U.S. District Court’s Western District of Washington against Bellingham Public Schools. The student alleged the district violated her federal Title IX rights, failed in its duty to protect and care for her and neglected its duties to report the sexual assaults to law enforcement, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal funding, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

In the student’s lawsuit, which was filed on her behalf by her attorney, the student alleged that when she reported the sexual assaults to three Squalicum High School administrators, one asked what she would like him to do about it, another failed to acknowledge the student’s report and a third required the student to participate in a “restorative circle” with the male student she accused of abusing her, according to court records.

Prior to filing her lawsuit, the student had filed a tort claim with the school district seeking $1 million in damages, according to public records obtained by The Herald.

But in a response filed Thursday, Dec. 12 to the student’s lawsuit, Bellingham Public Schools’ attorneys said the assault allegations contained in the student’s lawsuit were not reported to the administrators and the conduct that was reported to them was not considered abuse or neglect under state law.

The school district’s attorneys also stated that the district took appropriate steps to stop the harassment the female student reported, including putting an agreed-upon no-contact order in place between the two students, asking the female student if she wanted to make a law enforcement report, conducting an investigation into the allegations reported and removing the male student from school, according to the federal court records.

The Herald has reached out to Bellingham Public Schools for comment.

One of the district’s attorneys handling the federal lawsuit, Bret Simmons, said Thursday evening that they didn’t have any additional comment beyond what is contained in their response to the lawsuit.

The female student’s attorney, Mark Kaiman, said he had no further comment at this time in an email Thursday to The Herald.

The three administrators, Jeremy Gilbert Louzao, Maude Chimere Hackney and Meghan V. Dunham, were each issued criminal citations in Whatcom County District Court on Dec. 7 for failure to report, which is a gross misdemeanor. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged each of the administrators with one count of the gross misdemeanor failure to report, while the Bellingham Police Department served the citations on the administrators. Gross misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

All three are mandatory reporters and are required by state law to report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to law enforcement or the Washington State Department of Children Youth and Families. None of the three reported the female student’s allegations to law enforcement or the state child welfare agency, The Herald previously reported.

The administrators’ attorneys have each filed not-guilty pleas on the administrators’ behalf, and Louzao, Hackney and Dunham are expected to appear in court later this month.

Bellingham Public Schools is providing legal defense for the three administrators. As part of Washington state’s laws regarding the abuse of children, public employers are required to provide legal defense for public employees who are required to report abuse when the public employee “acts in good faith and without gross negligence, and if the employee’s judgment as to what constitutes reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect is being challenged.”

At the time the citations were issued, Louzao and Dunham were serving as assistant principals at Squalicum High School, while Hackney was serving as an assistant principal at Bellingham High School.

As of Jan. 3, all three have been reassigned to the school district’s Department of Teaching and Learning, where they will support district-level administrative work, The Herald previously reported.

Bellingham Public Schools has yet to decide whether the staffing changes will be made permanent and does not have a timeline for when that decision will be made by.

Dunham’s attorney declined to comment. Hackney’s attorney also declined to comment, saying they could not comment on ongoing litigation.

The Herald has asked Louzao’s attorney for comment.

Initial report

Louzao, Dunham and Hackney were not told the sexual assault allegations included in the female student’s federal lawsuit when she reported the male student’s conduct to them in January, Bellingham Public Schools’ attorneys wrote in the district’s Thursday response to the lawsuit.

On Jan. 14, the female student reported to Louzao that she had started to like a 15-year-old male student while they were both students at Squalicum High School and the two got increasingly closer. The female student told Louzao that one day she had a substitute teacher and was allowed to work in the hall with some friends, the male student joined them. The female student told Louzao the male student went between her legs and attempted to kiss her neck, but she pushed him off and told him not to do that, according to federal court records.

The female student told Louzao that the male student said “OK” but then did it again roughly five minutes later. She also told Louzao that the male student touched a private area on her body, but that the male student “acted like it was an accident,” the federal court records state.

The female student told Louzao the incidents made her uncomfortable and that she didn’t want to be around the male student any longer. She also told Louzao the incidents occurred during the previous semester in 2021 and that they were no longer occurring, the federal court records state.

In her lawsuit, the female student said Louzao responded to her sexual assault report with “What do you want me to do about it?,” the records show.

But in its response, the school district said that Louzao asked the female student and her guardian whether they would like to make a police report about the allegations that were reported to him, as well as other questions.

Louzao also started an investigation that included interviews with the female student and other students. A no-contact order was put in place between the female and male students and the matter was noted in the school district’s Skyward Family Access System, the district’s student information systems portal, the court records state.

A referral was made and a meeting was held with a support team regarding the allegations made against the male student. Employees from the state’s child, youth and families department were present at the meeting, the district’s lawsuit response states.

The school district then took further action and disciplined the male student by removing him “from the school environment,” the federal court records state.

When the female student reported the allegations on Jan. 17 to Dunham, who was then also serving as dean of students at Squalicum High School, Dunham asked the student to make a written statement of what had occurred. The female student reported to Dunham what she had reported to Louzao, court records state.

Dunham then informed the student that Louzao would be addressing the issue, court documents state.

Restorative circle

In her lawsuit, the female student stated that she reported the allegations against the male student to Hackney the same day she reported the allegations to Dunham. Hackney was an assistant principal at Squalicum High School at the time.

The female student said Hackney allegedly forced her to participate in a “restorative circle” with the male student accused of assaulting her. She also said the two were left alone in a room together as part of the “restorative circle” process, the court records and public records obtained by The Herald state.

Hackney then allegedly asked the female student “Are you guys OK now?” and told her to “shake hands and you’ll be fine,” the records state.

The female student then reported the sexual assault allegations against the male student directly to Bellingham police on Feb. 2.

But in the school district’s response, its attorneys stated that Hackney did not learn of the female student’s report and allegations until Feb. 2, after the female student returned to school after making her report to Bellingham police, the federal court records show.

The school district also denies that Hackney “required” the female student to participate in a “restorative circle,” according to the records.

In its response to the lawsuit, the district’s attorneys said the female student allegedly approached Hackney and requested to speak with the male student, saying “I just want to talk to him. I want him to know what he did,” the records state.

Hackney allegedly told the female student that her guardian would have to be told about her request to meet with the male student and that her guardian would have to provide consent for the meeting to occur. The student then allegedly called her guardian — in Hackney’s presence — and told her guardian that she wanted to meet with the male student she accused of sexually assaulting her, according to the federal records.

Hackney allegedly spoke with the female student’s guardian, who gave her consent for the meeting. The student’s guardian told Hackney “If this is what she feels like she needs to do, go ahead,” court records state.

Hackney also allegedly contacted the guardian for the male student, who gave their consent for the meeting to occur. Hackney then arranged “for the restorative meeting that occurred” in Hackney’s presence between the two students.

The school district has denied that the two students were left alone together at any time during the meeting, the federal court records state.

After the two students spoke to each other and the meeting ended, the two allegedly “did a ‘fist bump’ before leaving,” according to court records.

The female student withdrew from Squalicum High School as of February 2022 due to the sexual abuse and school district’s “lack of appropriate response,” her federal lawsuit and the public records obtained by The Herald state. She began attending a different school in the spring, according to previous reporting in The Herald.

Good faith actions

The school district denied that it failed its duty to investigate what occurred after the female student came forward, denied that it did not take appropriate steps to address the situation and denied that it violated the student’s civil liberties, the federal court records state.

The school district also denied that what the female student reported to the district and administrators was consistent with what is considered abuse and neglect by the state law that requires the district to report the allegations to law enforcement, the records show.

The district said all of its employees who are subject to the mandatory reporting laws, including Louzao, Dunham and Hackney, received annual, state-approved training on their duties as mandated reporters.

Bellingham Public Schools denied that it “engaged in a pattern of extreme and outrageous conduct,” in its Thursday response to the federal lawsuit, and stated that it did not engage in actions that were “outside the bounds of decency and intolerable in a civilized society,” the federal court records state.

The school district’s employees “acted in good faith and with reasonable care in all relevant aspects, including with respect for the then-expressed wishes of the student and her guardian,” and that the actions the district took, “were reasonably calculated to end the harassment,” federal court documents state.

The district’s attorneys also stated that the female student had not participated in the school district’s established routes for recourse, including filing a Title IX complaint laid out in district policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment of students, filing a complaint laid out in district policies regarding bullying, harassment and intimidation of students, or filing a complaint laid out in district policies regarding nondiscrimination, court records state.

The school district claims in its response to the lawsuit that the female student had “equal or better access” to reporting the sexual assault allegations against the male student directly to law enforcement or the state child welfare agency and that she “intentionally elected not to do so until months after the alleged offenses” of the male student, the court records show.

Bellingham Public Schools also stated in its response that if the injuries and damages she claims happened in her federal lawsuit did occur to the female student, they were the result of a third party and were actions that were not known to the school district until after they had occurred or ended, federal documents state.

The male student accused of sexually assaulting the female student has been charged with one count of indecent liberties by forcible compulsion, a felony, in Whatcom County Juvenile Court, which is a division of Whatcom County Superior Court. He is also facing two other criminal court cases for unrelated conduct.

All three cases are currently pending, according to county court records.

Resources

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can contact the following local resources for free, confidential support:

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

Tl’ils Ta’á’altha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

WWU Survivor Advocacy Services at the Counseling & Wellness Center: 360-650-7982 or https://cwc.wwu.edu/survivorservices.

Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org.