Byram Hills sued over bullying claims

Worthless. Slut. Go die. Drink bleach.

These were some of the epithets hurled at a student attending H.C. Crittenden Middle School in Armonk last year by her peers, both online and in person, according to a civil lawsuit filed this month.

The lawsuit says the seventh grader eventually responded to a year of physical and verbal harassment by writing a suicide note in May and slashing her wrists in an attempt to end her life. She now attends a private school in northern Westchester.

The 13-year-old and her mother, Lauren Milton, are suing the Byram Hills school district and two Crittenden faculty members they say failed to address the girl's frequent reports of harassment. The complaint was filed Feb. 4 in state Supreme Court in White Plains.

“It is our intention to see that the school district is held accountable for ignoring their duties under the law and to ensure that this does not happen to another child entrusted to their care,” said Anthony Mamo, the lawyer representing Milton and her daughter.

According to the complaint, Assistant Principal Kim Lapple and guidance counselor David Mack were told by Milton and her daughter as early as October or early November 2014 that the girl had been repeatedly bullied by classmates. The girl is referred to only by her initials in the complaint, as are other students.

Document: Read the lawsuit

“The constant and pervasive bullying of the plaintiff ... continued unabated from September 2014 thru May of 2015 and the defendants continued to fail to take any action to protect the plaintiff herein,” the complaint states.

The bullying included being pushed, having her locker vandalized, having rocks thrown at her home and being taunted with anonymous posts on the social networking website ask.fm, the lawsuit says.

The suit cites specific classmates who were allegedly responsible for some of the attacks. Mamo said the girl knew who was behind the anonymous online posts because “the kids who posted the stuff actually told her it was them.”

Milton, through her lawyer, declined a request for an interview. She has been public about her daughter's case, however, setting up at least two online campaigns to raise money to cover the roughly $38,000 annual tuition at the school her daughter now attends.

Bill Donohue, the Byram Hills superintendent, said he could not comment on pending litigation. He said the school district had not been served with the complaint as of early Tuesday afternoon.

"I can tell you that we intend to defend the case vigorously,” he said.

The lawsuit alleges that Lapple and Mack should have taken action under the state’s Dignity for All Students Act, which was signed into law in 2010 to protect students from bullying and harassment on school property. Lapple is the designated Dignity Act coordinator at the school, according to the Crittenden 2015-16 Code of Conduct.

In response to the taunts, the student frequently left class to stay in the bathroom or would leave school grounds entirely and walk around Armonk, according to the lawsuit, which says administrators "failed to notice" her absences.

It says Lapple did know the girl had been treated twice by the school nurse for self-inflicted cuts, and that the assistant principal told the girl "not to do that anymore."

It says that, on May 3, the girl's mother emailed Kathryn Dawes, one of her daughter’s teachers, to tell her about the bullying, but did not receive a response.

Two days later, the girl wrote a suicide note in school and put it in a backpack of another student. The note was found and given to Lapple who, according to the complaint, did not tell other school authorities or the girl's mother. It says the girl attempted suicide later that day.

Donohue said Lapple and Mack “are still working at the school and will continue to” do so.

Lapple and Mack did not respond to requests for comment.