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Background: Legacy Elementary School in Marion County, Fla. (WCJB/YouTube). Inset: 11-year-old Louis Johnson III (GoFundMe).
The parents of a Florida fifth grader who took his own life after allegedly being bullied by a teacher, who is accused of recruiting other students to mock the boy, have sued the school district where she worked.
Louis Johnson III died by suicide in April 2023, at the age of 10, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in early April by his parents, Louis Johnson Jr. and Tyka Johnson. The lawsuit says that Louis was subjected to extreme bullying, sometimes led by a staff member, Louis’ own teacher Donna White.
“Ms. White constantly, consistently, and relentlessly publicly humiliated minor child Louis Johnson, III in front of this peers, calling him ‘stupid’ and ridiculing him in front of his classmates on several occasions over the span of months,” the complaint says. White also allegedly “would also recruit other students to ridicule minor child Louis Johnson III and ask these other minor student classmates to agree with her comments that Louis Johnson, III was ‘stupid’ and that he ‘didn’t know anything.””
The school district “allowed [White’s] behavior to continue for a period of at least 3 — 4 months prior to his death,” the complaint adds. The parents say their pleas to the school about White — and asking the district to intervene on their son’s behalf — fell on deaf ears.
The school board, they say, “did nothing to prevent or correct her behavior.”
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Collectively, it all added up to intolerable conditions for Louis at school, the parents say.
At the hands of White and the school board, Louis “suffered such mental distress that it manifested itself into physical distress, including thoughts of suicide, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, crying, nightmares, fear, anguish and embarrassment,” according to the complaint As a result, Louis died by suicide “after enduring months of bullying and public embarrassment” caused by White and the school board, the complaint alleges.
According to a report by local ABC affiliate WCJB, an internal report by the school district determined that White had inflicted significant psychological distress on several students with her behavior.
Within months of Louis’ death, the school announced that White’s contract would not be renewed.
The grieving parents’ claims include negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent supervision by the school board. Court records did not indicate a future court date.
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