Teacher used girl as ‘bait,’ father says

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (CN) — A father claims a middle-school teacher used his 14-year-old daughter as "bait" in an "inept scheme" to catch a predatory student. After telling the girl to meet the boy so the teacher could catch him "in the act," the teacher bailed, and the boy raped the girl in a bathroom, the father says in a federal complaint.
The father claims that teachers at Sparkman Middle School knew that student C.C., a minor, "was in the habit and practice of continuously and repeatedly making sexual advances to numerous girls." The father claims C.C. had been harassing girls, including his daughter, trying "to have sex with him at school."
Defendant principal Ronnie Blair had ordered that C.C. "be closely monitored at all times" to protect the "female students from harassment, intimidation and sexual assault," according to the complaint.
But the dad says that C.C. was not disciplined, suspended or expelled for his behavior.
The father says his daughter told her teachers that C.C. had asked her to meet him in the bathroom for sex. He claims that one teacher, defendant June Ann Simpson, told his daughter that she was "tired of that kid."
The dad says that Simpson "instructed [his daughter] to follow defendant [C.C.] into a bathroom so that defendant Simpson could walk in and catch defendant [C.C.]" with plaintiff." When his daughter tried to back out, Simpson told her, "Don't do anything, just get him to meet you and we'll catch him," according to the complaint.
The complaint states: "On January 22, 2010, June Simpson, a teacher, coerced ... a 14-year-old girl, into following [C.C.] into a bathroom. Ms. Simpson assured [the girl] that nothing would happen and that they would 'catch' [C.C.] in the act. Ms. Simpson, the other teachers and administration, failed do so. [C.C.] raped [the girl] in the sixth grade boys' bathroom. This complaint is based on the police report made following the rape."
The 17-page complaint names the minor defendant, and the father, and identifies the girl by her initials. Courthouse News redacted the minors' names because they are minors.
The father says his daughter met defendant C.C. in the bathroom as arranged, but when Simpson could not see either student on the security cameras, she went back to her classroom. His daughter "was left in the bathroom alone and unprotected," and the boy raped her, according to the complaint.
The father says this "tortuous and traumatic event" has left his daughter "in an almost non-communicative state" and she is seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist. He blames his daughter's "physical injuries and current mental condition" directly on the 'systematic failure" of the Madison County School Board and its teachers.
He and his daughter seek punitive damages for recklessness, assault, civil rights violations and negligence. Defendants include the boy, C.C., Sparkman principal Ronnie Blair, the teacher June Ann Simpson, assistant principals Teresa G. Terrell and Jeanne Dunaway, and the Madison County School Board.
The plaintiffs are represented by Rebekah Keith McKinney with Watson, McKinney & Artrip of Huntsville.

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