The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, also accuses Cincinnati Public Schools of covering up bullying at Carson Elementary School — not just the repeated instances against Gabriel Taye but also at least 14 other instances just in the last school year. The suit claims the school district may have destroyed security-camera recordings to shield itself from legal action.
Cincinnati Public Schools, the lawsuit said, “with utter reckless wanton disregard for Gabe, permitted a treacherous school environment to become even more so by withholding these critical facts and covering up the risk to Gabe’s safety.”
Named in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages, are the school system; Mary Ronan, who just retired as Cincinnati Public Schools superintendent; and Carson’s leaders at the time of the bullying, Ruthenia Jackson, the principal, and Jeffrey McKenzie, the assistant principal. Jackson and McKenzie have since left Carson Elementary.
Dawn Grady, spokeswoman for the school district, released a statement Monday in response to the complaint filed by Cornelia Reynolds and Benyam Taye of Cincinnati: “As we have stated previously pertaining to Gabriel’s passing, ‘Our hearts are broken by the loss of this child, and our thoughts are with his parents and extended family. He was an outstanding young man, and this is a great loss for his family and our school community.’ “
The statement said the school district would no longer comment on the matter now that litigation has begun.
In an interview with WKRC-TV that aired Monday, Reynolds said: “He would have stayed home with me, maybe homeschooled, or transferred to a different school, if I had known that he was goingthrough what he was going through at Carson. It could have been prevented.”
Cincinnati lawyer Jennifer Branch, representing Gabriel’s parents, said the TV interview would be their only public statement.
Gabriel’s death came amid an outbreak of youth suicide in the region as measured by the Hamilton County, Ohio, coroner’s office. For close to 20 years, the average number of suicide deaths by people 18 and younger was five. In 2016, there were 13. So far in 2017, there have been 10 — the county’s first consecutive double-digit annual tally.