A Jamestown High School parent is suing the Jamestown Public Schools District for damages related to bullying during the 2023-24 school year.

The suit, filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Mayville, does not state an amount requested for damages. The family is being represented by Adam Mandell of Kingston, N.Y. According to the suit, the family served a notice of claim on the school district on May 2, 2024. A hearing was held on Aug. 21 2024, involving the student’s mother with a second hearing held Dec. 2, 2024, involving the student.

“During her attendance at the Jamestown High School during the 2023-24 academic year, the infant plaintiff J.H., was, on multiple occasions, bullied, harassed, discriminated against, and physically and emotionally harmed (“bullying conduct”),” Mandell wrote in the court filing. “The bullying was perpetrated by students attending the defendant’s school.”

The lawsuit alleges bullying took place at school and that the district was notified about the bullying. It also alleges the district didn’t take appropriate or effective action to stop the bullying. The parent also alleges an incident involving a district employee that resulted in the student hitting the ground with “violent force” while alleging the same employee had previously engaged in “negligent, culpable and/or unprofessional conduct.” That conduct isn’t explained further in the initial court filing.

“Defendant was negligent in failing to protect its students from the negligent and culpable conduct of its employee,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant was willful, culpable and/or grossly negligent in retaining its employee in a school setting with access to minors after that employee had previously demonstrated aggression, violent and/or culpable conduct directed towards other students.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the school district violated the state’s Dignity for All Students Act, which was passed in 2012 in an attempt to provide the state’s students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and at school functions. According to the most recent state reports available, there were six reported instances of bullying that would fall under the DASA guidelines during the 2022-23 school year – four involving bullying and two involving cyberbullying.

The lawsuit is awaiting service on the Jamestown Public Schools District, so no responses have been filed yet by district officials. The district was unable to comment on pending litigation.