A civil lawsuit has been filed against the Las Virgenes Unified School District by the family of a Calabasas High School student alleging she was the victim of severe bullying and harassment following a deeply invasive incident.
The student, identified only as 15-year-old P.J. by her family’s attorney, claims that another student secretly took photos of her while she was showering and then circulated the images among classmates. According to the family, both school officials and law enforcement were notified shortly after the incident, but they allege the school failed to take meaningful action.
In a statement to KTLA, P.J. described the emotional toll the situation has taken on her:
“It was a really traumatizing and embarrassing experience for me. It has changed me, matured me. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering who knows what about me, who has seen what about me. I was called a liar, a manipulator. People told me what I experienced wasn’t real, and people who saw the pictures laughed at me.”
P.J.’s family contends that rather than being protected, she became the target of ongoing bullying and emotional abuse at school in the wake of the photo leak.
The Las Virgenes Unified School District responded with a statement from Superintendent Dr. Dan Stepenosky, emphasizing that the district took the allegations seriously and followed proper protocol:
“Student safety is our number one priority. When the allegations of off-campus conduct were brought to our administration’s attention, we immediately reported the matter to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. LASD took the matter seriously and assigned it to the Special Victims Unit, which conducted a full investigation.”
P.J.’s family believes school officials failed to offer her adequate support and allowed a toxic environment to fester and spread.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has not released any further details regarding the outcome of its investigation. The lawsuit is expected to bring increased scrutiny to how schools handle student privacy violations and allegations of digital bullying.
The post Calabasas High student files lawsuit after shower photo shared among classmates appeared first on KTLA.
