A grandmother has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Philadelphia’s largest charter school company following an alleged sexual assault and video recording of her 13-year-old granddaughter by a 15-year-old classmate in a school auditorium in 2016.

Plaintiff Rosemary R., the legal guardian of the student who was allegedly assaulted, accuses Mastery Charter Company of conducting a “bogus and faulty investigation” and failing to employ basic safeguards and procedures to protect its students despite previous incidents of sexual assault of children there.

The alleged incident occured at Mastery’s Pastorius-Richardson Elementary, located in the Germantown area of Philadelphia.

Mastery, which operates 24 schools serving some 14,000 students in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, denies the lawsuit’s claims, saying it is based on an “incorrect set of facts,” The Philadelphia Tribune reported.

According to the suit, the school failed to consider that a 13-year-old may not have consented to the sexual encounter and suspended her along with her alleged assailant.

“The school and its administrators sought to deflect blame for their own failures” and blamed the 13-year-old instead of taking responsibility, Rosemary claims.

Mastery was also well aware of a “multitude” of incidents of violence and the school’s history of sexual assault of children enrolled there “but failed to take prompt and effective steps to address the sexual violence among its children and the hostile environment to which they were exposed,” the lawsuit alleges.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights investigated the incident and reported finding “multiple significant deficiencies and areas of non-compliance with Title IX,” the federal civil rights law enacted to protect any form of discrimination by an educational facility receiving federal funds, the suit asserts.

Rosemary accuses Mastery of violating numerous Title IX requirements, including:

• • Not having any policies or procedures in place to report or address sexual asssault or discrimination complaints
  • Never providing and training to staff or students with respect to sexual assault or discrimination
  • Failing to maintain records of complaints about sexual assault or discrimnation.

The lawsuit references two other alleged sexual assaults that took placed at Pastorius-Richardson in 2016, one of which involved a seventh-grader allegedly getting sexually assaulted in the lunchroom.

Overview of Sexual Assault Effects in Children

Sexual assault of children is a severe epidemic in the United States and can result in severe, long-lasting psychological effects that may impact their adult lives.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau, a 2010 report of Child Maltreatment found that 9.2 percent of child abuse victims involved sexual assault. Furthermore, the report found that during a one- year period, more than 16 percent of teens between the ages of  ages 14 and 17 had reported being sexually assaulted.

While there area number of potential contributing factors in these situations, with

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) states that children must understand the meaning of consent and recognize inappropriate behavior. It is also important for parents to teach their children to recognize any signs or symptoms of sexual assault in children.

Psychology Today reports that many children who have been sexually assaulted suffer from anxiety, depression and sudden changes in behavior. Due to shame, many incidents go unreported.

Rosemary’s lawsuit says that her granddaughter transferred to a public school and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.

This Sexual Assault Lawsuit is Case No. 2:19-cv-01458-RBS, in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Join a Free New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Lawsuit Investigation

If you suffered sexual abuse as a child in either New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania by someone at a public or private institution, legal help is available. Fill out the free form on this page for more information.

Learn More

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.