'Kissing Club' at private L.A. school leads to bullying and sexual assault, lawsuit claims
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The parents of an 8-year-old girl are suing a Los Angeles-area private school for allegedly failing to take action against a “Kissing Club” that was started by older students who bullied and sexually assaulted their daughter.Pantea Kipnis, the child’s mother, said in a statement to The Times that she came forward to raise awareness so other families wouldn’t suffer.
“Just because you send your kids to a prestigious private school [doesn’t mean] they will necessarily be safe there,” Kipnis said.At the time of the alleged bullying and sexual abuse, the child was a 7-year-old student at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, a private college preparatory school for students in pre-K through 12th grade.The family’s attorney, Samuel Dordulian, said at a Tuesday news conference that the child was no longer enrolled in the school.
The Kipnis family is suing for unspecified damages and attorney fees.The bullying by older students included name-calling, “peeking through the bathroom stall while the child used the bathroom” and pressuring others to commit sexual acts, according to the complaint filed Monday.
During school hours, several 7- and 8-year-old female students would gather inside the bathrooms to participate in the Kissing Club, according to the lawsuit.California Students at Manhattan Beach Middle School reportedly were involved in a violent assault that sent a 57-year-old Hermosa Beach man to a hospital.Two 8-year-olds pressured, intimidated and bullied the younger students to join the club, including the then-7-year-old victim, according to Monday’s suit.
The child was pressured to kiss the others in the club and forced to kiss and touch the genital areas of the two older girls, the lawsuit alleges.During an internal investigation, it was found that some of the acts were recorded on the girls’ phones, according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims that a te...