Family dismisses IPS lawsuit alleging special needs student was attacked, filmed

INDIANAPOLIS - A lawsuit alleging that a teacher recorded a 7-year-old student with special needs being attacked at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87 was dropped on Thursday.




According to court documents, IPS teacher Julious Johnican - an emergency permitted teacher hired amid the COVID-19 pandemic without full certifications - was previously accused of filming the student multiple times. In those videos, Johnican was alleged to have egged on the attackers. Staff members also reportedly saw the student being "dragged down a hall" and pushed into a filing cabinet by a school administrator. Johnican allegedly did not intervene.




Thus, a lawsuit was filed.

"[School staff members] had no idea the difference between teaching and child abuse, and that's a big problem," said the family of the student's attorney, Catherine Michael. "And that is very much bigger than Mr. Johnican and something we really need to see IPS held accountable for."




At the request of the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, the Indianapolis Metro Police Department then opened an investigation into the case. Before FOX59/CBS4 reached out to each of them, neither IMPD nor the MCPO were aware of the situation. IPS also reportedly added that they were not aware of Johnican's allegations until late October.




"IPS does not tolerate the type of behavior alleged in the complaint and takes reports of potential abuse and neglect seriously," the district said. "When IPS learned of the teacher's conduct, the Department of Child Services (DCS) was immediately notified, and the teacher was removed from the classroom and suspended."








Johnican was provided no further contact with IPS, the district said, and was terminated shortly thereafter.




Now, the lawsuit has been dropped.




"The court acknowledges the Joint Stipulation of Dismissal, Dkt, [83]," online court documents show. "The Clerk is directed to close this case on the docket."




Attorney Michael did not provide further comments on the lawsuit's dismissal.





via: https://fox59.com/news/family-dismisses-ips-lawsuit-alleging-special-needs-student-attacked-filmed/