New London — The father of a New London High School student has filed suit against the city and Board of Education, claiming that repeated bullying of his son has gone unaddressed and undocumented by the school district.

The alleged bullying dates to the 2016-17 school year during the student’s time in sixth grade at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School. It allegedly continued upon the student’s return to high school this year.

The alleged victim, identified as Johnnie Doe in the lawsuit, was part of the middle school’s STEM program and claims he was “subject to repeated acts of bullying by a group of three students,” and that the bullying included physical assaults, taunts, threats, theft of his lunch money and other cruel behavior.

The victim and his father, who The Day has agreed to keep anonymous and is referred to in the suit as John Doe, claims he and his son made numerous complaints to school administrators, including STEM Director Lawrence Washington. He said those complaints went mostly undocumented “and no efforts were made to address the bullying or provide a safe environment or plan for Johnnie Doe.”

The suit alleges Washington and other administrators “instead acted with deliberate indifference, a lack of good faith and attempted to intimidate John Doe and dissuade him from making reports.” Washington, former school human resources director Louis Allen and others, the suit alleges, “acted with a complete lack of good faith ... instead furthered their personal and/or professional interests by systematically failing to document parent complaints, and reports of bullying and assaults to ensure a continued lack of oversight by the State based on such reports.”

The suit argues that in addition to Washington, no referral or action was taken by the “safe school climate specialist,” Corriche Gaskin, the former school employee charged earlier this year with the sexual assault of two middle school students during the same school year Johnnie Doe allegedly was bullied. Washington remains on paid administrative leave this year. The school district has declined to reveal the reason for the suspension.

Gaskin’s case is still pending in New London Superior Court, along with two other former school employees — one on a sexual assault charge and the other on a charge of allegedly failing to fulfill her role as a mandated reporter. The criminal cases have led to an ongoing investigation by the state Office of the Child Advocate.

One of the victims in Gaskin’s sexual assault case is represented by attorney Gordon Videll, whose wife Christine Synodi represents John Doe in the lawsuit.

On Oct. 20, 2017, the suit alleges Johnnie Doe was again assaulted in the classroom and punched in the stomach, “which is compromised due to a preexisting medical condition requiring abdominal surgery.” No action was taken by the classroom teacher, the suit alleges.

On Oct. 23, 2017, the suit alleges Washington met with John Doe and told him students involved in the bullying were “assigned an essay as punishment.” When Johnnie Doe returned to school, however, the suit alleges he was “threatened to be stabbed with a pencil and his lunch money taken by the same students.”

Upon recommendation from his physician, Johnnie Doe was pulled from the school and home-schooled until January of 2018 when he was accepted as a student at another school. While Johnnie Doe was home schooled, the suit alleges the district did not fully document that fact, “presumably to ensure that he was counted as a student for purposes of magnet school funding.”

Speaking to The Day earlier this month, John Doe said bullying continued on his son’s first day at the high school.

John Doe said Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie had recommended he speak to STEM Magnet High School Director Laurelle Texidor. The meeting never occurred, and it was after the meeting cancellation that John Doe said he obtained services of an attorney.

“I would rather resolve this without a lawyer. I’m not in this for the money,” John Doe in an interview with The Day.

The suit, filed on Oct. 18 in New London Superior Court, seeks more than $15,000 in damages, and claims Johnnie Doe will continue to require “medical and/or emotional care and has suffered and continues to suffer from loss of enjoyment of his youthful school activities ...”

Ritchie was not immediately available to comment on the suit. Board of Education President Manuel "Manny" Rivera declined comment.

g.smith@theday.com