New Details on Abuse Suit Against Conway School District

An 8-year-old claims she was sexually abused inside a Conway elementary school last year.

Now, a lawsuit says the school district is to blame.

"Sexual abuse did occur in the bathroom," said Molly Lucas, an attorney for the victim.

What happened inside Jim Stone Elementary, she says, is beyond a parent's worst fears.

Beginning in August last year, Lucas says an 8-year-old girl was repeatedly victimized by another girl in her class.

A lawsuit filed Friday says the victim was often called a "lesbian" and was other wise sexually harassed.

The suit says she was also physically abused in the bathroom by the other girl.

But the behavior, the lawsuit alleges, escalated.

The girl reportedly received sexually explicit letters from the other girl, even got phone calls at home.

On at least one occasion the victim says the girl performed sex acts on her in the bathroom.

The age of both children involved, Lucas says, is disturbing.

"In my opinion the other child is a victim herself, because 8-year-olds...you've obviously been exposed to something or been abused yourself to know that kind of behavior exists," Lucas said.

But just as distressing, Lucas says, was the school's response.

"The teachers not only suspected it, they flat out knew about it and the school district failed in their duty to report it to DHS," she said.

Lucas says at least six employees broke the law by not following state laws about reporting abuse.

More, she says they acted with "deliberate indifference" to the abuse allegations.

The victim she says was kept in the school with her alleged abuser for at least 17 days after the incidents were reported.

Then 4 months after she was transferred to another school, her parents were told she had to return to Jim Stone Elementary school.

"They kind of wanted to push this incident under the rug when it should have been their top priority on their list to protect the children of their school," Lucas said.

Now, she says, the parents want justice.

"They are wanting to give their little girl a voice, give her a voice and ensure this doesn't happen to any other children," she said.

The child in this case is now being home-schooled and is going to counseling. She was so upset she was soiling herself at school and even told counselors she wanted to take her own life.

Late Monday afternoon KARK received a statement from the school district after they declined an on-camera interview they said because of the pending litigation.

The statement reads:

"Under the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, we cannot publically discuss information about students. Because this lawsuit involves students, we cannot discuss it in anything but in the most general terms.

The facts are not as set forth in the lawsuit. The Conway School District does not tolerate bullying, harassment or sexual abuse and our staff has acted accordingly. The District acted appropriately under the circumstances related to this minor based upon what we knew and when we knew it. Eventually the actual facts will be established and it will be apparent that the District has acted appropriately and in the best interest of our students."

We will continue to follow this story and bring you more as it develops.