Family of Portland girl, 9, file $9m lawsuit against school 'where she was gang-raped in bathroom by two boys, with attackers suspended for just one day'

The family of a Portland girl filed a $9million lawsuit against a public school district after the young girl was allegedly 'gang-raped' by two boys in the bathroom.

Last month, the family of the nine-year-old girl filed the suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court and alleged  both the district and a non-profit after-school program failed to protect the youngster.

According to the lawsuit, in April 2022, two male students in the program, Schools Uniting Neighborhoods, at Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland, told the girl they would 'find out where she lives' if she didn't tell the staff she needed to use the bathroom. 

She complied and went to the bathroom, as the other students followed her, locked her in a stall, took off her pants and each 'forcibly penetrated' her, the lawsuit, reviewed by Oregon Live, stated. 

As she tried to ward them off, the boys made it impossible for her to escape as they took turns blocking the doors, documents said. 

The father of one of the boys reported the incident and his son and the other boy were suspended for just one day, the lawsuit said. 

Prior to their suspension, instead of getting the police involved in the alleged sexual assault, 'PPS staff undertook their own internal investigation,' the lawsuit said. 

Staff also interviewed the girl without telling her parents, family or any legal representatives, according to the suit. 

According to court documents, six days after the alleged assault, the victim's father took her to Randall Children's Hospital for an evaluation. 

A week after that visit, she was seen at a child abuse program called CARES Northwest, where medical staff were told about the incident and concluded that 'the history provided was highly concerning for sexual abuse,' the lawsuit said. 

According to the legal filling, since the alleged attack, the young girl has been suffering from the pain, trauma, a gap in education and social anxiety brought on by the incident. 

The nine-year-old's father proceeded to transfer his daughter and younger son to another school which took a month to do and disrupted his children's education, the lawsuit said. 

The lawsuit also mentioned other alleged instances where the girl was put in similar situations by male classmates at the school. 

Prior to the one in April, one of her classmates allegedly touched her genitals over her clothing without her consent during a class, with an educator in the room, the lawsuit said. 

During another incident, the girl slapped a student after he attempted to kiss the young girl without her consent, the lawsuit said. 

DailyMail.com contacted Portland Public Schools District, the Sun Community Schools program and Scott Elementary School for comment. 

Sydney Kelly, a spokesperson got Portland Public Schools told Oregon Live: 'The district learned of these new allegations last week when we received the lawsuit, and we are investigating.' 

'We are mandatory reporters, meaning we must report any instance of possible child abuse and neglect.' 

'We take our responsibilities as mandatory reporters seriously and follow the law around reporting.' 

The lawsuit accused the district and the after-school program of not educating students about sexual boundaries, not communicating with with parents or guardians and not enforcing rules about sexual behaviors on school property.