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Lewisburg-area school district faces federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a student’s family alleging extreme bullying at the district college caused physical illness and psychological torment for the 14-year-old boy .
The lawsuit alleges the student has been labeled a rapist and pedophile on multiple occasions, based on a rumor that spread to Donald H. Eichhorn Middle School. Numerous other students allegedly harassed the teenager, who was new to the school, by calling him those names, whispering behind his back, glaring at him and deliberately avoiding him, the lawsuit says.
Kathleen Kurtz, the boy’s mother, and stepfather Robert Straub filed the lawsuit on June 15. She accuses the Lewisburg area of violating Title IX by failing to provide a safe learning environment for the student and by failing to respond to sexual harassment that has lasted for months by many other students. They are represented by attorney Timothy Kolman of Kolman Law, Bucks County.
According to the lawsuit, the student was falsely accused of rape through an anonymous report via the Pennsylvanias ChildLine referral system. The lawsuit says an investigation by the Buffalo Valley Regional Police determined the allegations against the student were fabricated and unfounded.
However, according to the lawsuit, the student was constantly harassed from November to May before the family pulled him out in favor of home schooling. A pediatrician excused the student from the last five weeks of the school year because of the impact on his physical and mental health, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, the teenager informed his mother and stepfather of the charges on March 17, triggering a series of interactions with building manager George Drozin and acting manager Jeremiah Bennett and guidance staff as well as police officers.
The complainants allege that after multiple attempts to resolve the situation through the school district, district administrators and teachers let the boy down and never punished others for the alleged harassing behavior.
According to the lawsuit, the teenager said that one student purposely grabbed his broken collarbone as a result of an off-road motorcycle accident and another pushed a student against him to start a fight. The district reviewed the video and said the incident did not unfold as described by the student, according to the lawsuit.
The teenager switched to home schooling on May 14.
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