CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago mother has filed a lawsuit claiming an elementary-school student bullied and beat up her son, a third-grader at the same Mount Prospect, Ill., school.
In the lawsuit, which also identifies the boy as a plaintiff, Deveri Del Core claims there was “continuous” bullying of her son throughout the 2013-14 school year. The lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday said the boy was hit, punched, choked, elbowed, kicked, pushed, tripped and spat on on a weekly basis by another student.
Both were third-grade students at Robert Frost Elementary School in Mount Prospect, although the two boys were in different classes.
The lawsuit also names the Wheeling-based Community Consolidated School District 21, Frost Elementary School Principal Jeffrey Brusso, and the alleged bully’s parents.
All parties were notified of the reported incidents and failed to provide protection to the Del Core family, according to the lawsuit, which claims assault and battery, negligence and failure to provide adequate security.
The alleged bully’s parents, the lawsuit also said, failed to discipline their child to stop the behavior, including speaking with or providing medical attention their son, or removing him from the school, according to the lawsuit.
The parents of the boy accused of bullying could not be reached for comment.
The school district issued a statement Wednesday saying: “As a district, and at each of our schools, we value the safety and security of each and every one of our students and staff members and take bullying prevention very seriously. We work diligently to provide a healthy, productive environment for all of our students to learn and grow.”
Mount Prospect Police Officer Greg Sill said Del Core filed four police reports alleging the bullying incidents, twice calling for help from the school and the other times by going to the police station.
“The resolution on all of the cases were that the school was going to handle it or (by) the parents speaking with each other. The parent who called each and every time was looking for documentation only,” Sill said.
The police reports were filed on March 19, May 9, May 17 and June 2, Sill said.
The lawsuit lists 12 incidents of violence, dating from February to June. Del Core’s son, according to the suit, was elbowed on the forehead on May 27 and told “he was stupid for reporting the incidents to the police about being bullied.”
Del Core seeks more than $50,000 in damages and a trial by jury.