The guardian of the student knocked to the ground by ex-Fresno Unified principal Brian Vollhardt in a June 7 incident caught on camera is now suing the school district and Vollhardt.

Attorney Jason Bell filed the lawsuit on behalf of the student and his guardian on Dec. 22, seeking unspecified damages for the child’s mental and physical pain and negligence on the district’s part.

Vollhardt already faces a criminal charge of misdemeanor child abuse in connection with the incident, to which he pleaded not guilty.

In the lawsuit, he’s accused of harassing, assaulting, and battering the student, who suffered “humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, mental and physical pain and anguish, frustration, fear, and loss of dignity and self-esteem” as a result, according to the complaint.

Vollhardt’s attorney declined to comment in a text to Ed Lab, stating he hadn’t seen the lawsuit.

While both criminal and civil courts weigh Vollhardt’s actions, the family’s lawsuit also seeks to hold Fresno Unified accountable for what happened.

Family ‘disappointed’ with Fresno Unified

“It was disappointing in this case,” Bell told The Bee’s Education Lab on Tuesday, “to see that Fresno Unified School District is not taking any responsibility for the actions of their employee or themselves.”

Fresno Unified spokesperson Nikki Henry on Wednesday declined to comment on any specific allegations in the lawsuit due to the pending litigation. She referred the Ed Lab to a previous statement from September in which Nelson detailed the steps the district took following the June 7 incident, including placing Vollhardt on leave and launching an investigation the following day.

Similar to the claim for damages Bell initially filed with the district in September, the lawsuit alleges the district negligently hired, supervised, retained, trained, and investigated their ex-employee. The district denied that damages claim in October.

The lawsuit additionally alleges that district employees failed to properly report the incident involving Vollhardt to relevant authorities — contrary to the district’s insistence that they did.

“You see in that video, there’s multiple bystanders that are employees of the district that ... witnessed the event,” Bell said. “Those employees are under a mandatory duty and obligation to report that conduct to the proper authorities — which, according to my understanding, was not done.

“That has to be done immediately,” he added. “Not months down the road.”

FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson has previously walked through the sequence of actions the district took after the June 7 incident.

On June 8, the district placed Vollhardt on administrative leave and launched an investigation, Nelson said in a September news conference.

On June 9, the district’s human resources department reported the incident to the Fresno Police Department — which has admitted mishandling the case and delaying the criminal investigation — and Child Protective Services.

FUSD officials also confirmed contacting the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing regarding Vollhardt within days of the incident. Vollhardt’s credentials remain in place as of Jan. 3.

Prior incident between Wolters principal and student

The incident captured on camera June 7 wasn’t the first altercation between Vollhardt and that same student.

A public records request from The Bee’s Ed Lab uncovered a complaint that detailed another incident May 27 in which Vollhardt allegedly pinned the student to the floor with his knee for 2-4 minutes after responding to a call for support from a district employee.

Nelson said in September that district officials only became aware of the May 27 incident during their investigation into the events of June 7.

For the time being, Bell and his client aren’t asking for any specific dollar amount in the case.

“That’s going to be determined later, based on the facts that come out in this case and the discovery,” Bell said.

That discovery process should include written questions and depositions to uncover what details haven’t been revealed to the public yet, as well as what FUSD’s own investigation into the incident consisted of, according to Bell.

Next on the calendar for this suit is a case management conference on April 19, where a jury trial for the case should be set, Bell said.

Vollhardt’s scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing in the criminal case.

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The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.