INDIANAPOLIS — A former Indianapolis elementary school teacher orchestrated a “fight club”-style disciplinary system and encouraged his young students to physically assault each other, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Marion Superior Court.
Central to the lawsuit is a disturbing video in which the teacher appears to record one student attacking another with his approval. It shows a student on the classroom floor crying while another boy repeatedly punches him in the head and face and slams his head to the ground.
“That’s right,” the teacher says, “you get him.”
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the 7-year-old victim and his mother, claims the boy suffered a “systematic and severe pattern of abuse” at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87. The suit accuses Indianapolis Public Schools and multiple staffers of failing to protect the boy, described as a special needs student.
It’s the latest case to raise questions about abuse reporting at schools and other institutions that serve children.
The lawsuit claims the boy suffered months of abusive behavior under teacher Julious Johnican, but that the school didn’t take the allegations seriously until the inadvertent disclosure of the video in November. That’s when the boy’s parents insisted that the school contact the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS).
The ensuing DCS investigation substantiated an allegation of neglect against the teacher in February. But the teacher was allowed to resign and allegations were not forwarded to prosecutors. Johnican’s teaching license remains valid.
That’s a major concern, according to Catherine Michael and Tammy Meyer, the family’s attorneys.
“We’re alleging that there was knowledge about this, it took a video coming out and it took a parent demanding that the police and DCS was called,” Michael said, adding: “This teacher wasn’t even fired. This teacher resigned. This teacher hasn’t been charged yet. This teacher can go out there and work with children.”
