Catholic school sued over student's sex assault

This might be the story that finally sets everyone straight in their view that private schools can do no wrong.

A $250,000 lawsuit now accuses St. Joseph Elementary School, a Catholic school in Crescent Springs, Kentucky, of letting a student sexually assault a female schoolmate. (It's unknown whether the perpetrator was male or female.) Apparently the sexual assault happened in only 2nd grade.

The victim had been bullied repeatedly from January to May of last year. These incidents all occurred at school or under the school's watch. The school was notified - but the lawsuit says the school refused to act. The pattern of abuse finally culminated with the sex assault.

The suit also alleges that the perpetrator also had a history of harassing other students.

I don't think I know any of the individual school employees who are being sued, or to what degree they would be responsible for the incidents. But I do know for a fact that other schools in the Diocese of Covington have a proven record of condoning bullying. At several Catholic schools that operated under the diocese's auspices that I attended, student harassment was the norm, not the exception. At these schools, administrators not only knew about it but encouraged it outright.

In the Crescent Springs case, I don't know the details, so I can't speculate.

Unfortunately, schools in northern Kentucky (private and public alike) have a lot of clout with the system. A school's side of things is usually considered an incontrovertible truth, even if there's overpowering evidence the school is wrong. So I can't guarantee that justice will ever be served.

(Source: http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20090122/NEWS0103/301220072)