Lawsuit against Boston and city public schools says they failed to protect nine-year-old victim of repeated sexual assaults

BOSTON, MA - The parents of a nine-year-old Boston girl are suing the Boston Public Schools, accusing the district of failing to protect their daughter after she was assaulted and raped multiple times by another student on a school bus, Boston 25 News reports. 

The lawsuit, filed last week, also names the City of Boston, the Match Charter School, and a Transdev bus driver and monitor as defendants in the suit, filed by the law firm of Morgan & Morgan in Suffolk Superior Court. 

The victim is a student at the Match Charter Public School in the Hyde Park section of the city. The suit alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped on the bus by an 11-year-old student over seven months during the 2022-23 school year. 

“The sexual assaults occurred on diverse dates over seven months and were committed by another 11-year-old student,” the suit stated. “The sexual assaults took place just a few feet from the bus monitor and the bus driver on the way home after school from the Match Charter Public School.” 

The suit further said the bus company, Transdev, which is required to have mandatory video equipment onboard buses, in fact did not. That revelation was uncovered during an investigation undertaken by the school after it became aware of the sexual assaults. 

Attorneys from the firm allege the victim suffered great physical and mental harm, the outlet reported, and further allege she was forced to leave the school before she completed fourth grade due to fear of physical or social repercussions. 

“Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their policies that directly led to this young child’s assault,” attorneys Nina Bonelli and Alexander Zodikoff said. “Our client will experience a childhood haunted by trauma and flashbacks, and we will do everything in our power to hold the defendants accountable and prevent anything like this from happening to another child in our city.” 

WCVB-5 said the victim’s assailant threatened her harm if she told anyone. The school was informed of the rapes after she told two friends, who told school staff. 

"The child never told anyone about this because she was terrified while she was being sexually assaulted. The child perpetrator was threatening her with physical violence and threatening to spread rumors about her at the school they both went to,” Bonelli said. 

Boston 25 said the suit also alleges that the bus driver and monitor “either knew or reasonably should have known of the repeated and ongoing sexual abuse,” noting that they had a “duty to identify, intervene, and take steps to end and report the abuse as well as to take reasonable steps to prevent it from reoccurring.” 

The lawsuit further said the Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston “negligently contracted with, hired, trained, retained, supervised, and managed” the Transdev driver. At the same time, the Match Foundation “failed to warn parents” of the behavior on the bus. 

Further, the lawsuit alleges that Transdev and/or its co-defendants “negligently, recklessly, and/or intentionally lost or destroyed video footage” from the bus. 

“Children are the cornerstone of our communities, and schools are meant to nurture and protect them,” said Attorney John Morgan, founder of Morgan & Morgan. “As a father and grandfather, my heart grieves for our client and her family, who will have to live with this trauma for the rest of their lives. We will not stop until every person responsible is held accountable for their suffering.” 

The family is demanding a trial by jury in the case.