Student sues JCPS, JCHS principal for negligence

Jefferson City Public Schools (JCPS)
Jefferson City Public Schools (JCPS)

The family of a student who was raped by a man who posed as a guardian to remove the student from school has filed a lawsuit against Jefferson City Public Schools and the principal of Jefferson City High School.

A Jefferson City man, Jerome Buschman, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree statutory rape and second-degree statutory sodomy, and he was sentenced to five years in prison.

The victim was a JCHS sophomore at the time of the crimes in fall 2016, according to the lawsuit. The suit does not name Buschman as the culprit - who is referred to as "the abuser" - but the legal response by JCPS and James does name Buschman.

The victim told police in January 2017 that Buschman had contacted the school office and posed as a parent to take the student from school to his home, where the sexual activities took place. This happened multiple times over the course of three months, between Sept. 9 and Nov. 11, 2016.

The abuser had the student dismissed from school early the first three times - Sept. 9, Sept. 23 and Oct. 14, 2016 - and for a whole school day the last time - Nov. 11, 2016 - according to the suit.

The suit has five counts - one each against JCPS and JCHS Principal Bob James, two against James and a John Doe defendant or defendants, and another against all the defendants.

The count against JCPS cites a violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act. The suit argues Buschman's acts were "sexual harassment" that denied the victim equal access to a public education - the harassment being based, at least in part, on the victim's status of being a member of a protected group - and that by allegedly failing to take "prompt and effective remedial action" against the "sexual harassment" that the school district should have known about, the district abetted a civil rights violation.

The counts against James alone, or James and John Doe, alleges negligence - that James and any other as yet unidentified JCHS staff member who may come to be included as a party to the suit failed to implement and enforce policies they were responsible for to ensure students are safely released from school.

"JCHS did not ask the abuser for proper identification, did not positively identify him and did not require documentation to excuse the absence," the suit alleges of each time the victim was removed from school.

The first few pages of the lawsuit cite district policies on supervision and dismissal of students from JCHS, and also cite where the district policies were allegedly quoted or restated in the JCHS student handbook from the 2016-17 school year.

"We cannot comment on litigation. However, we are committed to ensure a safe and positive learning environment for all students," JCPS Superintendent Larry Linthacum said Tuesday.

The 2017-18 JCHS student handbook cites JCPS Board Policy JEDB under the section "Dismissal Precautions."

"At the request of a parent, school personnel will verify the identity of a parent or other authorized person before releasing the student. District staff may refuse to release a student and will notify the principal if they have concerns regarding the student's safety or whether the person is authorized to transport the student. Otherwise, the district will assume that the student knows with whom he or she may leave," according to the "Dismissal from School" subsection in the current handbook.

"Students shall not be excused into any person's custody without the direct prior approval and knowledge of the building principal or designee. Each building principal will establish procedures to validate requests for early dismissal to assure that students are released only for proper reasons and only to authorized persons," according to the following "Early Dismissal" subsection in the current handbook.

The fifth count in the lawsuit alleges the district's conduct deprived the student of her constitutional rights to a "property interest in public education" and right to be free from discrimination based upon the student's status as a member of a protected class.

The suit alleges: "As a direct and proximate result of defendants' conduct, (the student) suffered damages as described above" - including "emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation and physical pain and suffering."

The suit was filed in Cole County Circuit Court in March and has since been moved to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on the grounds of being a federal civil rights law case.

The suit asks for damages in excess of $25,000 and any additional relief that the court finds appropriate - on each of the five counts.

When the suit originally was filed in Cole County, it asked for a jury trial.

The student is being represented by Daniel J. Rhoads, of St. Louis-based The Rhoads Firm LLC.

JCPS and James are being represented by Ryan Bertels and Chris Rackers of Jefferson City's Schreimann, Rackers & Francka LLC.

JCPS and James deny the allegations. Their affirmative defenses also include immunity, that the student has "failed to mitigate any alleged damages," that Buschman is the proximate cause of the students' damages, and that other independent persons or entities' actions caused damages.