(The Center Square) – A former paraprofessional is suing the Washoe County School District over claims that the system shuffles dangerous students between schools without adequately alerting staff about their behavior and terminated him in retaliation.
The special education professional, James Benthin, said in the lawsuit that the school district “failed to discipline and remove dangerous students and failed to prevent the violent assault and battery” he allegedly experienced at the hands of a student in October last year.
The lawsuit alleges Washoe County School District (WCSD) did nothing to remove dangerous students, which created a dangerous environment for teachers and students. The district said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit claims that Benthin was trying to protect another student from an aggressive student identified as N.L. when N.L. choked him.
“N.L. grabbed Mr. Benthin around the throat from behind. Mr. Benthin struggled to get out of the chokehold and both N.L. and Mr. Benthin wound up on the floor,” the lawsuit reads. “N.L. was still trying to kick and punch Mr. Benthin while they were on the floor. Mr. Benthin was ultimately able to restrain N.L.”
Administrators who were called in to help allegedly did nothing to stop the attack and instead allegedly called on Benthin to release N.L., which he did, according to the lawsuit.
“Upon release, N.L. promptly swung his backpack and hit Mr. Benthin in the face knocking Mr. Benthin unconscious. This attack resulted in a broken nose and a severe concussion,” the lawsuit reads.
“N.L. then ran out of the classroom, followed by Ms. Phillips,” it continues. “Approximately 10 to 15 minutes later, N.L. appeared at the outside window to the room Mr. Benthin was located. N.L. had a rock as big as a grapefruit in his hand and proceeded to smash the window.”
“Once the window was sufficiently broken, N.L. climbed into the classroom, yelling profanity and racial slurs. N.L. picked up a chair and threw it at Mr. Benthin,” the lawsuit reads. “The chair hit Mr. Benthin’s desk, shattering Mr. Benthin’s computer causing glass shards and shrapnel from the computer to fly into Mr. Benthin’s face and body.”
The lawsuit then alleges the student left campus, and the middle school issued a “Code Yellow” to lock down the school. The lawsuit says it took “at least four school police officers” to apprehend the student.
The lawsuit then says while he finished the rest of the work day and was not offered leave to seek medical treatment, Benthin took the next day off with sick leave and was referred to the emergency room for his injuries, including a concussion and broken nose.
Benthin’s lawsuit alleges that the principal at the middle school wanted to meet with Benthin to go over how he could have handled the situation better and refused to have a union representative present.
It also alleged that despite Benthin filing a report to the school police, “they have refused to contact him or provide him with any information.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit claimed the middle school principal fired Benthin because he “abandoned his position” while using his sick days to recuperate. He requested a reasonable accommodation and that N.L. be removed from class “not only for his safety but for the safety of other staff and students,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges that this is not a one-off incident for WCSD and that the district’s superintendent would either not discipline students as described by district policy or would “assist in covering up these violent acts by either allowing the student to remain in the same school with the students, teachers and/or staff that were harmed or transferring the student to yet another school within WCSD.”
“As evidenced by the above-stated custom, pattern, practice and/or procedure, WCSD and/or the Superintendent knows of this protocol and places the placement of the dangerous students above the safety of other students, teachers and/or staff,” the lawsuit alleges.
• This story initially published at Chalkboard News, a K-12 news site that, like The Center Square, is also published by Franklin News Foundation.
