CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (PIX11) — A series of alleged assaults have some Long Island parents fearing their children are unsafe as school resumes after spring break. Reports ranging from bullying to an alleged sexual assault have led to some high-profile lawsuits that are causing feelings of unease.
“My daughter lives in a world of fear and paranoia now, and I’m just so hurt,” said the mother of the 10th grader who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault. “She’s just broken.”
The mother of the girl filed a lawsuit this week against the Central Islip Union Free School District, which states the high school failed to protect her daughter.
Among those claims, the girl was told by her vice principal not to call her mother after the assault took place.
“An English teacher even told my daughter, ‘Just because you were sexually assaulted, doesn’t mean you can miss school,'” the mother recounted, adding that the incident happened “in a room full of students.”
There was no safety, and there was no response, said Kenneth Mollins, the attorney representing the girl and another Long Island family who filed a lawsuit earlier this week.
The other lawsuit was over the beating of a 14-year-old girl at the high school where the alleged sexual assault took place.
Mollins is also representing a third family in a million-dollar claim filed by Ralph De Lustro, who states his son was a victim of bullying for months.
As first reported by PIX11 News, his son was attacked and strangled by his bully, which led to hospitalization. His attacker even admitted to doing so in a Snapchat provided by the family.
De Lustro said that he, and not his child’s school, called the police after his 13-year-old son was choked by another student at a school in the Three Village District, which is also on Long Island.
