Second Title IX lawsuit filed against Huron City Schools
HURON – A second Title IX lawsuit was filed against Huron City Schools Thursday. The lawsuit is related to the 2019 McCormick sexual harassment incident. This is the second lawsuit related to this incident. The first lawsuit was filed back in March. This lawsuit also claims that the Huron City School District and its leaders failed to protect several young female students from sexual harassment and instead protected the male harasser.
This lawsuit, like the first one, was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Western Division by two Huron residents on behalf of their daughter. It was filed against the Huron City School District; Huron Board of Education members Paul Ward, Jody Mast, Donna Green, John P. Jones, and Scott Slocum; Huron City Schools superintendent Dennis Muratori; McCormick Junior High School principal Chad Carter; Huron Police Detective and Junior High Wrestling Coach Matt Jacobs; Woodland Imminent School principal and Huron City Schools Title IX coordinator Mark Doughty; and Huron City Schools athletic director Steve Camella. Camella and Doughty were not named as defendants in the first lawsuit.
According to the complaint, starting in 2019, a male student began sending unsolicited lewd pictures and videos to the plaintiffs’ daughter. Soon after, while in class, the male student exposed himself to her.
Later, while the plaintiffs’ daughter was staying the night with the daughter of the plaintiff’s in the first lawsuit, that female student received lewd pictures and videos from the male student. After this, the two female students’ families talked to each other about what had been happening with their daughters and the male student. Following this conversation, the plaintiffs and their daughter had a phone conversation with the male student and his parents. In the conversation, the male student apologized for sending the pictures.
On the following day, at school, the plaintiffs’ daughter was asked by multiple students who asked her if she had received lewd pictures from the male student. That same day, the plaintiff contacted Muratori and Jacobs. Jacobs then interviewed them. During the interview, Jacobs recommended that the plaintiffs delete any pictures/videos that the male student sent their daughter. Jacobs said that the family could all be charged with child pornography if the pictures or items were discovered or reported before the families filed a report.
A few days later, the plaintiffs and their daughter met with Carter and Jacobs for another interview. During thar interview, Jacobs said he knew the male student, since he was his wrestling coach. Jacobs called the male student a jackass and said he always tries to act like the class clown. Jacobs also said that he was not surprised that he was doing this, and that he told the wrestling team not to send these pictures, but he said they kept doing it because that is how kids “date” nowadays. After the interview, the plaintiffs’ daughter was sent back to the same class where she sat next to the male student. Jacobs also said that he would write up a report and send it to the Erie County Prosecutor’s office; however, he never did.
Jacobs interviewed the male student a week later. No questions or answers from that interview were in Jacobs’s police report. The plaintiffs were told after this that the male student would be suspended for ten days. However, only a five-day suspension was given. After he returned, he continued to harass the plaintiff’s daughter.
After the plaintiffs met with Prosecutor Cheryl Goodrum, the male student was arrested. He was charged with two counts of pandering and two counts of public indecency. He pleaded guilty to one count of pandering and was released on house arrest with an ankle monitor. The terms of his’s house arrest was that he was only to leave home to attend mandatory school activities. The plaintiff’s daughter was also granted a civil protection order against the male student. A copy of the order was provided to the school district.
The same evening of his release, the male student was spotted at football practice, which is a violation of his house arrest. Later, the court amended the male student’s house arrest allowing him to attend mandatory football practices beginning August 1. The male student still attended non-mandatory practices. The Huron Board of Education soon after held an executive meeting and adjusted mandatory football practices to begin immediately. This is in violation of OHSAA regulations, which states that mandatory practices can’t begin until August 1.
About a month later, the plaintiff’s daughter attended cheerleading pictures at the Huron High School Football Stadium. Camella was present at this event. While taking photos, the freshman football team, whom the male student was a part of, came onto the field. Prior to this, one of the plaintiffs told cheer coach Janet Gioffre about the protection order. When they walked onto the field, the plaintiff’s daughter began having a panic attack. Her mom told a football mom that the male student was not allowed to be there. The football mom spoke to coaches, and then told the plaintiff that her daughter would have to leave so that the male student could come onto the field. No one else spoke up for the plaintiff’s daughter’s right to be there. When the football team was done, the plaintiff’s daughter had to come out and take photos by herself as the rest of the cheerleaders, football players, and coaches watched.
After this incident, the plaintiff’s daughter withdrew from Huron City Schools and enrolled in another district. Following all these events, the plaintiff’s daughter attempted suicide. She is now in counseling to help manage her mental and emotional distress.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Joshua Fraley, of Pencheff & Fraley, LPA in Westerville. Fraley told Huron Insider in a statement, “We believe that as more facts come to light, that it will become clear that the School District failed this family as well as other families who have been victims of sexual harassment and discrimination in the Huron City School District. We hope that she will obtain the justice that she deserves and that the school makes the necessary changes so no other girls face this kind of discrimination in the future.”