(Greg Groogan/KRIV-26 News)
Within hours of Asher Brown’s September 2010 suicide, his parents, Amy and David Truong, were blaming the Cypress-Fairbanks School District for failing to protect their son from bullying.
A federal lawsuit, filed last spring, alleged deliberate indifference on the part of Cy-Fair educators to repeated bullying amounted to a violation of Asher’s civil rights, a failure to act that drove the tormented 13-year-old to end his own life.
While Cy-Fair has fought to have the lawsuit dismissed, US District Court Judge Keith Ellison said no, calling “plausible” the Truong’s claim that Asher’s school deliberately failed to protect him.
“I do think the court is sending a clear message that when a child is being bullied and school officials know about it, they have a duty to do something about it,” said Martin Cirkiel, the Truongs attorney. “What Asher experienced everyday, no child should go through.” While the civil rights claims survived the court’s review, four other claims made by the Truongs did not. (See the full story at KRIV-26 News)
OTHER HEADLINES
- Liberty County Grandma at Center of Child-Abuse Case Lost Custody of Her Own Kids in 1986 (KHOU-11 News)
- Students, Beware: School Hours Could Change in HISD (Houston Chronicle)
- HISD Dedicates New Frost Elementary (KUHF Public Radio)
- TCEQ’s Executive Director Retiring (Texas Tribune)
- Wealthy Women Control Charitable Checkbooks (Philanthropy Journal)
OPINIONS OF NOTE:
- Bill King: There’s No One to Blame for Pension Fund Crisis (Houston Chronicle)
- Bill Gates: Shame Is Not the Solution (New York Times)