Embarrassing Complaint Against School

CHICAGO (CN) - Parents say teachers at an elementary school in suburban Skokie forced their son to crawl through the snow from the playground back to his classroom after he broke his leg.

The Chandani family sued the Skokie School District and Board of Education and Devonshire Elementary School in Cook County Court.

Skokie, pop. 66,500 is an upscale northern suburb of Chicago. Its median household income of $64,391 is 19 percent above the state average of $53,966, and the average value of its homes and condos, $327,100, is 62 percent above the statewide average of $202,200, according to city-data.com, which used 2009 figures.

The Chandanis say that on Jan. 3, 2010, snow blocked the path from the school doors to the playground, so that "there was no access from the playground to the school building without crossing the mound of snow."

Their son Rahul fell and broke his leg while trying to get to the playground that day, the family says.

They say that the school employees who were supervising the playground "told Rahul Chandani that if he could not walk, he needed to crawl across the playground and through the school."

The family says neither supervisor called for an ambulance or called the school nurse. Nor did they help Rahul into the school or contact his parents about the injury, the family says: They made Rahul crawl across the playground and through the school to his classroom without any assistance.

The supervisors are named in the complaint, but are not named as individual defendants.

The Chandanis say they took Rahul to the hospital that day, where he was diagnosed with a "tibial shaft leg fracture and left occipital head hematoma."

"Rahul Chandani was told by defendants' agents and employees if he wanted to get back into the school he had to crawl through the playground and school after he complained he was injured and could not walk," the complaint states.

"The defendants' conduct in forcing Rahul Chandani to crawl across the playground after he complained that he was injured and could not walk and in not obtaining medical assistance of the defendants was extreme and outrageous.

"The defendants and their agents and employees knew or should have known that their conduct would cause severe emotional damage."

The Chandanis seek medical expenses and damages for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

They are represented by Anjali Dayal with McBreen, Kopko & Dayal.

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