Teen sues local school district, alleges relentless bullying

This story has been updated with a comment from the Aberdeen School District.

A 19-year-old African-American man filed a federal lawsuit against the Aberdeen School District Tuesday, alleging he suffered relentless racial and anti-gay bullying as a student while school officials did little to stop it.

Russell Dickerson, III, said students had taunted him with derogatory epithets, spit on him, threw things at him, and created a website that mocked him. Believing he was gay, a student posted in a high school locker room a doctored picture of him kissing a man, he said.

But from 2003 to 2009, while Dickerson attended the district's junior high and high school, Aberdeen officials did little to stop the harassment, Dickerson and his parents said. The alleged lack of action came in spite of a no-contact court order to keep one of Dickerson's harassers away from him, the complaint said.

That harasser had allegedly threatened to lynch Dickerson.

"It was like a prison sentence," the soft-spoken teen said at a news conference in Seattle Tuesday. The conference was organized by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which filed the complaint on his behalf in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

"I found myself dreading school," he said.

The complaint alleges that Dickerson and his parents had repeatedly reported the harassment to school officials, and that officials had engaged in "deliberate indifference" that violated Dickerson's civil rights. It seeks damages to cover the costs of his counseling and continuing education.

When Dickerson enrolled at Miller Junior High, he said he had found notes from students calling him a "dog" and racial epithets. He said students tripped and pushed him, and threw food, rubber bands and spitballs at him.

One assistant principal suggested to Dickerson that he change his style of clothing to avoid further harassment, the complaint says.

Only after Dickerson's father complained to the school board did the district do a formal investigation, according to the lawsuit. The district allegedly hired an insurance professional, who concluded that Dickerson had indeed been harassed. But recommendation emerged for changes at the school or district.

When Dickerson entered Aberdeen High School, the harassment escalated, he said. Students continued to call him derogatory racial and anti-gay names. They pinched and fondled his chest, spit on his head, taunted him about his physical appearance, and insinuated that he was gay.

"You got quite a bust going on," they allegedly said to Dickerson. "Hey girl, I like my fish squirmy."

In 2007, students created a website that mocked him. A student threatened on the website to lynch Dickerson, leading the Grays Harbor County Superior Court to issue a no-contact order against the student.

The ACLU, which became involved in Dickerson's plight that year, declined to specify how the district responded to the website and other complaints, except to say "it was too little too late."

Dickerson said he became the target of retaliatory harassment after reporting the site to authorities. An assistant high school principal allegedly discouraged him from reporting student harassment. The hostile environment included a group of students who displayed confederate flags on their cars in the school parking lot, he said.

The bullying led Dickerson to struggle academically, experience extreme isolation and despair, and fear new people and situations. He said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at age 14.

"Going to middle and high is supposed to be a memorable experience, not the worst time of your life," said Dickerson's father. "The district has not only failed us, they have failed students and parents also."

The case was the latest in a national string of teen bullying, which came under scrutiny in September with the suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a Rutger University freshman whose roommate had secretly filmed him having an intimate encounter with a man and broadcast it online.

After several other bullied teens committed suicide this fall, the federal government launched an anti-bullying campaign a few months ago.

"It is disheartening to hear almost daily that someone else has become a victim of school harassment," said Dickerson. "I hope this brings about change for future students in the state of Washington."

Aberdeen School District Superintendent Tom Opstad said late Tuesday afternoon that the district had worked "diligently and collaboratively" with Dickerson and his family to address his complaints.

"The District adamantly denies that the District has allowed any student, including Russell, to be harassed without prompt corrective action being taken," Opstad said in a statement.

He said Dickerson currently works as a tutor for elementary school students in the district, which he said is "indicative of the fact that he feels safe and comfortable in our schools."

"The District takes complaints of harassment very seriously," Opstad said. "Where misconduct was substantiated, students who engaged in harassment were appropriately disciplined."