School makes girl apologize to rapist, who then rapes her again. School suspends girl

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

http://jezebel.com/5831447/school-al...-to-her-rapist

A Missouri school is being sued for some of the most disturbing allegations in recent memory: according to the suit, officials not only disregarded a girl's rape claim, but forced her to deliver an apology letter to her alleged attacker. Then, she says, the same student raped her again.

According to the Springfield News-Leader, the 7th grade special ed student at Republic Middle School in Springfield, MO reported her rape in the spring of 2009. The lawsuit alleges that school officials told her they didn't believe her, and after "multiple intimidating interrogations," she recanted. The lawsuit also notes that a school psychological report said the girl "would forego her own needs and wishes to satisfy the request of others around so that she can be accepted," meaning she might have been especially susceptible to pressure to change her story. But the pressure allegedly didn't end there. The girl says she was made to write an apology note to her attacker and hand-deliver it to him. She was also expelled for the remainder of the school year.

When she came back the following year, the school allegedly refused her mother's request for extra monitoring and did not separate her from her alleged attacker. In February 2010, the lawsuit says he "was able to hunt [her] down, drag her to the back of the school library, and again forcibly rape her." She and her mother reported this rape to the police, and a rape kit tested positive for her attacker's semen — he plead guilty to charges in juvenile court. But instead of taking her seriously at long last, the school suspended her, this time for "Disrespectful Conduct" and "Public Display of Affection." Her lawsuit requests damages for medical expenses, emotional distress, and attorneys' fees, as well as "punitive damages to deter School Officials and others from similar conduct in the future."

In a response to the lawsuit, the school district denied every one of the girl's allegations against it.

I really have to watch my mouth on this one (even in Fratching) but those are some seriously fucked up people running that school. Who in their right mind lets something like this HAPPEN?

My brain completely fails trying to comprehend this. It's horrible.

[Andara Bledin]

Who?

Sexist, misogynistic assholes who hate equality for anyone that isn't them and honestly believe that rape victims "ask for it" and that children with special needs should be put down to keep them from contaminating the rest of the breeding stock.

^-.-^

[mikoyan29]

why does it seem like this is a common thread these days? I mean we have the case about the cheerleader and the basketball player and now this. And if they had physical evidence, how can they say it didn't happen?

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

That's what really grinds my gears. They Had the rapists semen on the victims body. They had proof.

The only possible rationale for dismissing that is they felt the sex was some how consensual. How they could have come to such a braindead conclusion, I have no idea.

[Rageaholic]

I'd just love to know what kind of bullshit justification they had for this kind of failure of epic proportions.

First the cheerleader thing, and now this. The stupidity just gets worse and worse.

[Eisa]

What...the ever-living fuck...

I want to hurt people right now.

[Andara Bledin]

The cheerleader thing, as much as it sucked for the girl, was not mishandled by the school.

This, however, is on a whole other level of unacceptability and egregious malfeasance.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

Damn scumbags. I just...I've got nothing left to say about this. Society keeps failing me too often for me to get up in arms about it anymore.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I saw this headline elsewhere today and the thing I can't stop wondering is where was the girl's parents while all this was going on? Why in the fuck would her parents send her to a place where

1. The people in charge failed to keep this from happening in the first place, and
2. they knew a rapist was walking around free and unpunished.
3. The people in charge made it abundantly clear that rape was okay in this school, thus pretty ensuring that it would happen again (see #2.)

School idiocy aside, what was going through the parent's head? No cops called? No hell raised? No lawyers? WTF?

I don't think I would have to tell anyone here what would happen to someone that had assaulted my daughter and I knew who he was.

[Jester]

I really have to watch my mouth on this one (even in Fratching) but those are some seriously fucked up people running that school.

I don't feel any such need to watch my mouth.

And in my opinion, the school district people were fucked up beyond belief, assinine, dipshits, assholes, asshats, dumbasses, motherfucking wastes of skin and oxygen that would not make me shed a tear if they wandered into expressway traffic and had their asses exploded through their brains. Actually, that would be kind of fitting, if you ask me.

The cheerleader thing, as much as it sucked for the girl, was not mishandled by the school.

Just how was it NOT mishandled by the school? Not only did they demand that she cheer for the team, which she did, but the demanded that she cheer specifically for her attacker, and when she did not, they suspended her from the cheerleading squad, and tried to make her feel like an ass for actually not wanting to give a few rah rahs for the guy who violated her. And THEN demanded money from the family for their legal expenses for so doing.

How in the name of Zeus's butthole is that NOT mishandling the situation?

Look, you don't like the fact that a cheerleader won't cheer for one guy because he sexually assaulted her? Do the smart thing, and quietly suggest to her that she might want to step back during such situations where the squad is cheering for Mr. Wonderful, or perhaps suggest that she would be better suited on the football cheer squad, or SOMETHING other than make HER out to be the villain!

School idiocy aside, what was going through the parent's head?

I agree with you that they should have called the cops and pressed the issue. That being said, the parents may have had no choice but to send the girl back to that school, if it was the local public school and they couldn't afford to either send her to a private school or transport her to a different public school. Also, as much as it sucks, a lot of parents, as angry as they might be about something like this, don't have the money for a lawyer and a lawsuit, and frankly, there aren't always lawyers around who would take a case like this pro bono. And when faced with feeding and housing one's children or filing a lawsuit that may or may not succeed (see the cheerleader's lawsuit for what I'm talking about), I have to side with the idea of feeding and housing the child. As terrible as that choice seems, if it comes down to that, that is the right choice.

[Andara Bledin]

Just how was it NOT mishandled by the school?

At the time in question, the grand jury had declined to prosecute. There was nothing for the school to do as it was a he said/she said situation. Go re-read that thread for more information on the actual timeline of events. As said, it totally sucks to have been that girl, but it was not the school that screwed up and her lawyers were fucktards for even suggesting that her family try to sue them.

^-.-^

[Rapscallion]

The jury had declined to prosecute?

There was still an allegation. Common sense dictates a second thought on this that maybe forcing her to cheer for someone she claimed to have sexually assaulted her wasn't really the best way to win hearts and minds. Whether her allegation was true or false, and I have no way of saying either way, I'd have certainly gone down a route of trying to keep the two people apart.

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

The jury had declined to prosecute?

In the cheerleader case, she made an allegation. The grand jury reviewed the allegation and turned it down, essentially giving an opinion that they found the claim to be without merit. There are/were allegations regarding both racial bias and the DA trying to discredit her through rumor-mongering because her attacker was one of the local successful jocks.

Cheering is a voluntary position that doesn't have allowance for "I'm not going to cheer for that guy because he's an asshole." While the school absolutely could have handled it in a more sensitive manner, they didn't actually do anything wrong, either.

^-.-^

[tropicsgoddess]

That is utter bullshit the school treated that girl like some Jezebel! I hope the mom has a good lawyer to sue the shit out of that school board for not doing the right thing and that the son of a bitch that raped the girl gets justice!

[DrFaroohk]

Sometimes things like this seem like there's something missing. For instance, it sucks that girl has to apologize to rapist...but then what if there's more to it, like...there was no rape? maybe?