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Oct 27, 2024

Student struck other student 80 times as Portland school staff ‘stood by and watched,’ $2M suit says - oregonlive.com

Lannette Kali said she recorded this Snapchat video on her cell phone, before the video disappeared hours later. Kali said the video shows an older Roosevelt High student (center) assaulting her

Lannette Kali said she recorded this Snapchat video on her cell phone, before the video disappeared hours later. Kali said the video shows an older Roosevelt High student (center) assaulting her daughter, who is dressed in black and on the floor of the school on Feb. 23, 2024. Two adults – one of them telling other students to back away and one watching – can be seen in the background.Screenshot of Snapshot

The mother of a Roosevelt High School student filed a $2 million lawsuit against Portland Public Schools Thursday, claiming the district failed to institute adequate security measures that would have prevented her teenage daughter from being struck more than 80 times in less than a minute as school employees “stood by and watched.”

Lannette Kali filed the lawsuit on behalf of her daughter, Dania Kali, whom the suit says was in her first year at Roosevelt High in February 2024 when a senior girl kicked, hit, grabbed and slapped Dania Kali in a school hallway, with school staff “declining to intervene.” The suit states the older student attacked Dania Kali, then 15, because she didn’t like Dania Kali’s expression as she walked by.

The lawsuit faults Portland Public Schools’ “incompetence and apathy.”

Earlier this year, Lannette Kali shared a video with The Oregonian/OregonLive of a portion of the assault that another student posted to Snapchat. The video is titled ‘Just another normal day at velt.” The family’s attorney, Jacob Johnstun, said the lawsuit will now allow the family to acquire a copy of school surveillance video that captured the beating from multiple angles.

The battering ended when “one school employee finally entered the scene and pulled the attacker off Dania,” according to the suit. The suit says no one offered the teen medical attention until her mom arrived and drove her to urgent care. It also says the teen’s mother “was rebuffed when she made attempts to gain minimal information from the school so she could better protect her daughter in the future.”

Mother runs into roadblocks after daughter's beating

The Roosevelt High mom’s case highlights some parents’ frustrations over privacy laws and student safety.

Lannette Kali told The Oregonian/OregonLive in April that school officials declined to give her the name of the student, and that her daughter was caught off guard by the attack and didn’t know the older student’s name. Lannette Kali also said Portland police told her the district wouldn’t provide police with the video or the student’s identity. A police spokesperson at the time declined to comment about any specifics.

Back in April, PPS spokesperson Valerie Feder also told the news organization that the school district doesn’t share names of students who allegedly bullied or assaulted others and requires police to file subpoenas for surveillance videos.

It’s unclear what discipline the older student might have received because the district declined to share that with the Kali family or The Oregonian/OregonLive.

On Friday, the district didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit. But the district doesn’t typically comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit says Dania Kali suffered two black eyes, a swollen nose, headaches, vision problems, nausea and a concussion. Her mother said the assault left her daughter unable to attend school for nine full days plus a few half days, unable to read or write for about two weeks and unable to concentrate for long periods of time. The lawsuit claims the district failed to accommodate the teen’s disabilities, gave her failing grades in most of her classes and required her to attend four weeks of summer school.

Johnstun, the family’s attorney, said the teen’s recovery is ongoing, and that just this week a head injury clinic recommended one year of therapy to help with her balance and dizziness.

The suit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

— Aimee Green covers breaking news and the justice system. Reach her at 503-294-5119, [email protected] or @o_aimee.

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