Teacher accused of encouraging students to beat up 7-year-old with disabilities
A mother is suing Indianapolis Public Schools, as well as some of its staff members, claiming that her 7-year-old son was recorded as he was attacked by another student.
In the lawsuit filed on April 16 and obtained by NBC News, the mother of the second grader, who has disabilities, including “sensory sensitivities, an executive function disorder and probable learning disabilities,” says that her son told her that he was being abused and bullied at school.
The mother, whose son attends George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87, claims his teacher, Julious Johnican, orchestrated “fight club” type of discipline within his classroom “over a span of three months in which he encouraged, instigated, and on at least one occasion recorded on his phone physical abuse” of her son by other students.
Attempts to reach Johnican by NBC News were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon, as well as phone calls to numbers associated with his relatives were not answered.
According to the lawsuit, the mother says that her son was attacked at least three other times and was “thrown to the ground, struck, slapped and hit in the head repeatedly.”
In a video sent by the mother's lawyers to local NBC affiliate WTHR, a young boy is on the floor while another one is on top of him and hitting him.
“That’s right, get ‘em,” a man can be heard saying in the background of the video.
The lawsuit states that during a parent-teacher conference, her son’s teacher was about to show her a video of the classroom environment. Instead, it showed her son being attacked by another student.
“The parent attempted to grab the phone, (the teacher) inadvertently turned up the volume where the parents could hear that it was him, the teacher, instigating and encouraging the beating of their disabled seven-year-old child,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement to NBC News, Indianapolis Public Schools spokesperson said, “IPS does not tolerate the type of behavior alleged in the complaint and takes reports of potential abuse and neglect seriously.”
“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,” the statement reads. “The teacher had no further contact with students and is no longer employed by IPS.”
The statement continues, saying that IPS was “not aware of any fights encouraged or sanctioned by this or any other teacher from the student’s parents or otherwise, until the parent emailed the principal at 6:58 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30.”
“The principal first viewed this email early morning the next day (Tuesday, Oct 31), and immediately contacted DCS and IPS Human Resources,” the statement adds, noting that the teacher was immediately removed from the building that day and never returned to the classroom.
“The teacher was interviewed by Human Resources on Nov. 2 as part of its investigation into the matter,” per the spokesperson. “The employee resigned during that meeting before IPS could initiate termination proceedings, which the district was prepared to do based on the information received from the internal investigation.”
The statement concludes that because this matter is the subject of pending litigation, it is inappropriate to comment further on the internal investigation of the matter.
IndyStar reports that Johnican was a first year, full-time teacher. The outlet notes that in an interview with DCS investigators, the teacher said the video recording took place on Sept. 23, 2023, and that the students in the video had been fighting all day before the recorded incident.
“Mr. Johnican stated that he did not have enough patience that day and he did not interfere,” according to DCS’s assessment report, per IndyStar. “He stated that he videoed the fight to have proof of what was happening.”
The DCS started investigating the situation after the video was shown at the parent-teacher conference, according to WTHR. Johnican has not been charged with any crime.
The mother is requesting a jury trial.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
