The parents of an 8-year-old girl are suing a Los Angeles-area private school for allegedly failing to take action against a “Kissing Club” that was started by older students who bullied and sexually assaulted their daughter.
Pantea Kipnis, the child’s mother, said in a statement to The Times that she came forward to raise awareness so other families wouldn’t suffer.
“Just because you send your kids to a prestigious private school [doesn’t mean] they will necessarily be safe there,” Kipnis said.
At the time of the alleged bullying and sexual abuse, the child was a 7-year-old student at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, a private college preparatory school for students in pre-K through 12th grade. The family’s attorney, Samuel Dordulian, said at a Tuesday news conference that the child was no longer enrolled in the school.
The Kipnis family is suing for unspecified damages and attorney fees.
The bullying by older students included name-calling, “peeking through the bathroom stall while the child used the bathroom” and pressuring others to commit sexual acts, according to the complaint filed Monday. During school hours, several 7- and 8-year-old female students would gather inside the bathrooms to participate in the Kissing Club, according to the lawsuit.
Two 8-year-olds pressured, intimidated and bullied the younger students to join the club, including the then-7-year-old victim, according to Monday’s suit. The child was pressured to kiss the others in the club and forced to kiss and touch the genital areas of the two older girls, the lawsuit alleges.
During an internal investigation, it was found that some of the acts were recorded on the girls’ phones, according to the lawsuit. The suit claims that a teacher took one of the students’ phones and sent the videos of the acts to herself and showed them to other staff.
Before the escalation of the Kissing Club, Kipnis said she had contacted Sierra Canyon School to report the bullying.
According to Monday’s filing, Kipnis also asked her daughter’s teacher to “keep an eye on her to keep her safe” and suggested bathroom monitoring.
To Kipnis’ knowledge, no actions were taken to protect her child from further bullying, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims that Sierra Canyon School eventually became aware of the Kissing Club and its activities but did not notify Kipnis, her husband, Max Kipnis, or the police.
Neither parent had any idea that their daughter was being assaulted at school until Kipnis “was told by another parent whose child was also assaulted by the same girls.”
The parents are suing the school for failing to report their daughter’s alleged assault under California Department of Education’s mandatory reporting laws that require school staff to report suspected child abuse.
Sierra Canyon did not respond to The Times’ request for comment before publication.
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