SPOKANE, Wash – What happened at a high school summer football camp in 2023 will take center stage in a Spokane County courtroom next week, as a jury will be asked to decide if the Mead School District acted with indifference in its failure to protect students.
Several families sued the Mead School District, saying their sons were the target of attacks by fellow Mead High School players during the football camp. In the incidents, players held the students down and even applied a massage gun to their genital area.
Prosecutors declined to file assault charges, but the families believe the school district should have protected their sons.
The families are also suing because the coach and administrators failed to follow mandatory reporting laws and didn’t disclose what happened.
The school district faces an uphill battle in the case, as several of the issues have already been decided by the judge.
In March, Judge Annette Plese granted a motion for partial summary judgment, saying the district breached their duty to follow mandatory reporting laws “after receiving numerous reports of sexual harassment and assault.”
In May, Judge Plese granted another motion for partial summary judgment, saying “The Court finds that the Mead School District is liable under the Washington Law Against Discrimination based upon the facts and evidence presented to the Court for racial discrimination.”
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The lawsuit alleges the superintendent even altered a report on the incident, removing findings that the students were targeted because of their race.
The jury will enter the trial being told that those facts have been decided and are not in dispute.
Jurors will be asked to decide if any school district agent “acted with deliberate indifference to a known report of discriminatory conduct.”
The jury would also be asked to determine what, if anything, the district should pay in damages.
Jury selection is scheduled to get underway Monday. The court expects the trial to last 10-14 days.
The families’ attorneys plan to call as witnesses teachers, coaches, administrators, football players and their parents and family members of the alleged victims.
The defense expects to also call coaches, players and school counselors, as well as the prosecutor who declined to file criminal charges in the case.
It’s not clear how much money the district could be ordered to pay if the jury rules against it.
The school district also faces a federal lawsuit about these incidents, in which a family is seeking $50 million.
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