LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A former San Marino High School student is suing the district, alleging she was met with indifference after she told several teachers she was raped by a fellow member of the campus debate team while they were in a relationship.
The young woman filed the lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the San Marino Unified School District, alleging gender discrimination. She seeks unspecified damages. The district did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff began dating her alleged assailant in October 2011. By the following summer, the relationship turned abusive, the suit alleges.
“During this time frame, (her boyfriend) forced (her) to have sex with him, against her will, on multiple occasions,” the suit states.
The two broke up in November 2012 and the woman told her story to the first teacher in March 2013, the suit states.
The teacher replied, “Honey, you were raped” and talked about the culture of rape and its occurrences on college campuses, the suit states.
The teacher encouraged the plaintiff to talk about what happened to her with friends but not with the police, the suit states.
“(The teacher) advised that the police would not believe (her) and showed (her) articles supporting this position,” the suit states.
The teacher also did not provide any information about the plaintiff’s allegations to the administration even though the student asked her for help in doing so, the suit alleges.
About a week later the woman confided in another teacher who also did not apprise either the administration or the police about what happened, the suit states. But the teacher did tell the plaintiff’s ex-boyfriend about what the plaintiff said and the former beau subsequently began talking about her to other students, suggesting she was “mentally unstable,” the suit states.
A school psychologist with whom the plaintiff spoke told her there were “nicer guys out there” and that she would find them in college, according to the lawsuit.
After the plaintiff told the psychologist she was depressed, the mental health expert responded that “school is difficult and there are lots of kids in school who are struggling,” the suit states.
The psychologist urged the plaintiff to treat the alleged rapes as a “tough breakup that would merely take time and distance” to heal.
Yet another teacher with whom she spoke told the plaintiff that “first heartbreaks are hard,” the suit states.
The plaintiff spoke with several other teachers, but like the others none encouraged her to tell the police about the alleged sexual assaults, the suit states.
The trauma from the alleged attacks caused her to be late classes or miss them altogether, and forced her to withdraw from the debate team, the suit states.
The plaintiff graduated in June 2013, the suit states. Her former boyfriend’s parents told her mother and father in January 2014 that the school vice principal spoke with her alleged assailant about the rape allegations, but that the meeting took place after she graduated, the suit states.
“At no time prior to her graduation was (the plaintiff) informed that the administration would be doing any type of investigation regarding her allegations,” the suit states.
