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BEAUFORT -- A special-needs student who attended Battery Creek High School during the 2005-06 school year is suing local and state education officials for failing to ensure her safety in light of three alleged sexual assaults on school grounds, according to a statement from the student's attorney.
The suit was filed in November on behalf of the student. On Jan. 31, the student's lawyer made an offer to settle for $600,000 that school officials rejected.
The lawsuit has been sealed, but according to a Monday press release from Beaufort attorney J. Olin McDougall II, the student claims five unidentified males forced or attempted to force her to perform oral sex on three occasions during the school year. In one incident, she claims to have been groped, constituting physical assault, according to the release.
School officials learned of the first two incidents as they happened, but failed to report them to law enforcement,
according to the release. The release does not say if law enforcement was involved after the third incident, and
McDougall could not be reached to elaborate.
Neither Beaufort County School District Superintendent Valerie Truesdale nor school board Chairman Fred Washington Jr. were aware of the lawsuit Tuesday. Truesdale said lawsuits in the early stages are usually handled exclusively by lawyers and referred inquiries to Jennifer Staton, the district's risk manager.
Staton said Wednesday the case is still very new to the district and that lawyers are sorting out the facts through the pre-trial discovery process.
She declined to comment on the allegations.
The release describes the student as "handicapped" and said she had a personalized education plan that called for her to be in "self-contained classes," which are small classes separate from the general school population taught by special-education teachers.
This lawsuit follows well-publicized settlements the district made with seven of nine victims of convicted child molester and former Coosa Elementary School teacher Philip Underwood-Sheppard, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence. The school district paid $4.6 million to the victims, supplemented by $200,000 from its insurance carrier for an average of about $680,000 to the seven victims. An eighth victim is in settlement negotiations, and the ninth has died.
County taxpayers were hit with a small property tax surcharge last year to cover the settlement, though district officials are attempting to recover the loss with a lawsuit against the insurance carrier.

4-17-08 The Beaufort Gazette: Student sues over sexual assault claims

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