Portland, Oregon, schools and after-school program sued after a 9-year-old girl is allegedly raped

A young girl and her guardian have sued an Oregon nonprofit organization, Portland Public Schools and Multnomah County for $9 million, alleging they were negligent when male classmates sexually abused her at school and raped her during an after-school program when she was a 9-year-old third grader.

The child, who is now 11, attended a Portland elementary school and an after-school program operated by Multnomah County on her school campus in partnership with Latino Network and Portland Public Schools.

The lawsuit says the girl was subjected to multiple episodes of nonconsensual sexual touching during school hours. In March 2022, she hit a male classmate in the face to protect herself when he touched his mouth to hers, but the lawsuit said the school suspended both her and her attacker for the incident.

The next month, two other male students trapped her in a bathroom stall during recess at their after-school program and raped her, the lawsuit said. The school learned about the assault when the parent of one of the male perpetrators heard about it from their child and reported it.

The lawsuit alleges the school and after-school program failed to immediately notify law enforcement and undertook an internal investigation. It says school district personnel interviewed the girl without notifying law enforcement or her parents of the sexual assault or about their interview.

The school suspended the two males for one day and said they would stay in school with a safety plan. But the girl’s father didn’t believe this would keep his daughter safe and so enrolled her and her younger brother in another Portland public school. Both the girl and her brother missed almost one month of schooling as a result.