WASHINGTON, D.C. — A student, “John Doe,” and his mother, “Jane Doe,” have filed a civil
rights lawsuit against a Washington, D.C. private school, St. Anselm’s Abbey School. The
lawsuit challenges the School’s failure to protect John Doe from daily harassment to which
he was subjected based on his race and disability. Rather than protect John Doe from
harassment by his peers, the school suspended him and barred him from re-enrolling for
the following school year.
As a student at St. Anselm’s Abbey School, John Doe was relentlessly harassed by his
classmates because he is Black and autistic. They publicly called him race- and disability based
slurs, including “burnt chicken nugget,” “n*gger,” “brown monkey,” and “autistic
n*gger,” among others. They also harassed him in class-wide group text threads, threatened
him, and physically assaulted him while at school. John Doe and his mother repeatedly
complained to school staff and administrators, who failed to take necessary action to
address this harassment. The abuse not only continued, it escalated to the point that John
Doe was too afraid to ride the school bus, could not focus in class, and contemplated
suicide. Text records of some of this harassment will be part of the record before the Court.
After John Doe was attacked by a group of non-Black students, the school suspended him
— not the harassers — for defending himself. St. Anselm’s then barred John Doe from reenrolling for the next school year. When John Doe’s mother met with the headmaster to
discuss the school’s decision to expel John Doe, the headmaster said that “the only thing
[the school] did wrong was accept an autistic child” and that he “would have never
accepted [John] if [he] knew [John] was autistic,” notwithstanding that Jane Doe had
disclosed his disability during the admissions process. The lawsuit alleges that the school
violated the District of Columbia Human Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Jane Doe had enrolled her son in St. Anselm’s because they regarded it as the premier
Catholic school in Washington, and they believed this was one of the only schools where
John Doe could get a high-quality education while being immersed in Catholic values. The
abuse John Doe suffered, therefore, was especially jarring, as it subjected him daily to
ridicule and humiliation while shattering his connection to the Catholic community.
Alexandra Brodsky, litigation director of Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project, said:
“John Doe, like all students, deserved a safe and equitable learning environment. Instead,
he faced relentless harassment — and when he asked his school for help, they punished
him instead. Private schools are not above the law. They should be on notice that, if they
discriminate and retaliate against their students, they will have to defend their cruelty in
court.”
“Every student is entitled to respect and dignity while at school, no matter their race or
disability,” said Andrew Adelman, partner at Correia & Puth. “St. Anselm’s Abbey School
was unable to provide this. Rather than address and work to prevent race- and disabilitybased
harassment of John Doe, St. Anselm’s responded to complaints about that
harassment by blaming John, suspending him, and effectively expelling him. I am proud to
stand alongside John Doe and Jane Doe to hold St. Anselm’s to account.”
“St. Anselm’s failures shattered a family’s trust in education, in their Catholic faith, and in
our society,” said Alisa Tiwari, associate at Cohen Milstein. “Today, our lawsuit is making it
clear: no school can turn a blind eye to race or disability discrimination. John and Jane Doe
seek to recover for the searing harm they suffered and to ensure that no other child is
degraded for being different.”
Jane and John Doe are represented by Public Justice, Correia & Puth, and Cohen Milstein
Sellers & Toll. Read the complaint here, and view Fox 5, DC News Now, and The Globe and Mail's coverage here.
