Parents of boy, 8, who killed himself two days after being knocked unconscious by bullies at school in 2017 reach $3million settlement with district
The parents of an eight-year-old boy who killed himself after being bullied repeatedly at an Ohio school have reached a tentative $3million settlement with the district.
The agreement reached Friday - which will now go to the school board for Cincinnati Public Schools on Monday for approval - comes over four years after Gabriel Taye's death. The boy was found dead two days after being knocked unconscious by fellow classmates in January 2017.
In addition to the settlement money, the district also agreed to actions to prevent a repeat of such bullying with such steps as training and supervising all staff on anti-bullying reforms and to working to identify repeat offenders, victims and locations. There will be two years of oversight of the district's anti-bullying plan.
A memorial to Gabriel will also be placed at Carson School, the elementary school he attended, with the settlement money being used to protect students from future bullying, according to the family.
Cincinnati Public Schools reached a tentative $3million settlement with the parents of eight-year-old Gabriel Taye (left and right) on Friday. The boy was found dead by suicide two days after being knocked unconscious by fellow classmates in January 2017
Gabriel's parents claimed school officials knew about the bullying but were 'deliberately indifferent,' allowing a 'treacherous school environment' that led to their son's suicide
'In honor of Gabe, his family is using this settlement to protect current and future CPS students,' said the family's lawyer, Al Gerhardstein.
'We will make sure these reforms take root and end bullying throughout the CPS system.'
His family's attorneys said his mother learned her son was being bullied after seeing an email a Cincinnati police detective wrote describing the scene outside a boys' bathroom, where the attorneys say Gabriel was knocked unconscious.
Surveillance video showed students pummeling Gabriel unconscious just two days before the 8-year-old committed suicide
That assault was captured on surveillance video, showing a number of classmates stepping over him, kicking him, and taunting him after he was knocked to the ground.
He hanged himself days later at his home two days after the bathroom incident.
The attorneys said the mother buried the tablet with him 'to make sure he had something to play with in heaven'.
The settlement agreement marks the end of a three-year legal battle between Taye's parents and the school district after a wrongful death suit was filed shortly after his death.
Officials at Gabriel's elementary school said back in 2019 that they were not liable in his suicide because it is not their responsibility to eliminate violence between students.
Carson Elementary Principal Ruthenia Jackson and Vice Principal Jeffrey McKenzie had moved to have lawsuit claims dismissed in court in December 2019, with their lawyer arguing that the administrators should receive immunity because the alleged bullying was out of their control.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that attorney Aaron Herzig, a partner at the Taft law firm who represented the school district in the case, said a resolution was in everyone's best interest.
Carson Elementary School officials said back in 2019 that they were not liable in the suicide of the eight-year-old boy because it is not their responsibility to eliminate violence between students
'The defendants strongly believe that neither CPS, its employees, nor the school nurse were responsible for the tragic death of Gabriel Taye,' Herzig said.
'CPS embraces the goal of eliminating bullying within schools, as well as continuing to refine and improve reporting, management, and training processes related to incidents of bullying.'
As a part of the settlement, the school district has pledged to identify bullying by tracking repeat offenders, repeat victims and repeat locations, empower school nurses to report suspected incidents of bullying, intervene with students engaged in bullying, work to stop bullying before it happens, and train and supervise all staff to follow the reforms, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The wrongful death lawsuit cited repeated examples of Gabriel and others being bullied at his elementary school. His parents contended that school officials knew about the bullying but were 'deliberately indifferent,' allowing a 'treacherous school environment.'
Gabriel's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against officials at Carson Elementary and the Cincinnati Public School District, alleging that administrators allowed bullying to take place and attempted to cover it up. Gabriel is pictured with his mother, Cornelia Reynolds
'They were not liable in his suicide because it is not their responsibility to eliminate violence between students.'
ReplyDeleteWe've reached the point of having to expose our children to a Gauntlet of bulling with no grown ups protection expected or offered. Sad Sad state of things these days...
Such a tragedy. I can't think of a better reason for home schooling.
ReplyDelete