An ex-educator in Indiana is accused of organizing a “Fight Club” where he purportedly urged students to assault a 7-year-old student with disabilities and recorded at least one attack, as per a lawsuit filed recently.
The mother of the 7-year-old filed a lawsuit in Marion County this week, naming Indiana Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson, George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87 Principal Mary Kapcoe, and the child’s former teacher Julious Johnican.
Additional defendants in the lawsuit include the district, the district’s Board of School Commissioners, the school’s assistant principal, a substitute teacher, and a behavioral consultant.
The child, identified as “O.D.,” started reporting abuse and harassment at school to his mother weeks into the 2023-24 school year, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Johnican organized a “fight club” atmosphere in his classroom over three months, where he encouraged and recorded physical abuse of O.D. by other students.
Catherine Michael, the family’s attorney, suggested that the teacher used the fights as a form of discipline.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department initiated an investigation into the allegations in the lawsuit at the request of the county’s prosecutor’s office.
The school district responded by suspending and later accepting the resignation of the teacher once the allegations came to light.
The district emphasized its zero-tolerance policy towards such behavior and stated that the Department of Child Services was promptly notified.
The district claimed it was unaware of the teacher’s actions until the parent’s email on Oct. 30, which was promptly reported to the relevant authorities.
The superintendent and school principal declined to comment on the allegations.
Efforts to contact Johnican were unsuccessful, as he is described as a first-year teacher in the district.
The lawsuit details multiple instances of physical abuse suffered by the second grader at the hands of other students, with Johnican allegedly facilitating the attacks.
The child’s mother raised concerns with school officials after witnessing her son’s distress and hearing his accounts of abuse.
The child, now homeschooled, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is undergoing therapy.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and indicates that damages will be determined during the trial.
Antonio Planas
Antonio Planas is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Helen Kwong contributed.
Allegations of Abuse: Former Indiana Teacher Accused of Inciting Violence Against Disabled Child
‘Your father is not Uğur Dündar, he is a famous artist’! The drama of four siblings emerged in the hospital
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Metin Akpınar also met with the children of his daughter Sevgi Nebioğlu (left). Twin sister Duygu Nebioğlu (right) also attended the grandfather-grandchild meeting.
Four families claimed
Finally, it was revealed that the four sisters were given to Adile and Emir Şener, a couple living in Tekirova, Antalya, by their mother Suphiye Orancı in 1988, to take care of them in exchange for money. According to the information obtained, the couple took care of the twins, who were two months old at that time, and the other siblings, aged two and four, for three or four months. However, Orancı did not make the promised payment to the family. When the Şener couple had difficulty in taking care of their four children, three families living in the same village took over the care of the three siblings. One of the twins stayed with the Şener couple. When one of the twins fell ill and was taken to the doctor, it was understood that the child did not have an ID. Hospital employees reported the situation to the Ministry of Family and Social Services. The brothers were placed in the Child Protection Agency.
‘He came twice’
According to the news in Milliyet, Ahmet Adaletli, who took care of one of the siblings at that time, explained what happened as follows: “The girls’ mother came to the village only twice. He brought clothes etc. when he left the children behind and a week later. After that she disappeared. Aunt Adile and Uncle Emin took care of these children for about four months, but their mother neither sent money nor provided any help. We looked for their mother at that time but could not find them. “We said, ‘What should we do?’ and we divided the children among ourselves.”
‘I applied, they didn’t give me’
“Everyone loved the child they bought as their own child,” said Adaletli, adding, “We took care of the children for more than four months. God knows, we weren’t thinking of giving it to anyone. One of the twins got sick and everything came to light when he went to the hospital. The child had no identification, the hospital understood the situation. Our children were taken from us. After Songül was taken away from me, I applied for adoption, but they did not give it to me because their parents were not known, they said she would come out at any time. “After the events emerged last year, Songül reached out to us and we met,” he said.
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SENA offers jobs and incentives to support entrepreneurship
The National Learning Service -SENA- has implemented two strategies aimed at strengthening the country’s productive apparatus. The first strategy focuses on the Public Employment Agency (APE), which currently has approximately 800 job opportunities in the department of Risaralda, intended for all people able to work.
“During this year, we have had two very significant employment fairs: ExpoEmpleo SENA Mujer (in commemoration of Women’s Day), and Hoy las Víctimas (alluding to the national day of memory and solidarity with victims). Around 530 people participated in the two job fairs,” commented Alejandro Mejía Salazar, occupational counselor at the SENA Risaralda Public Employment Agency.
The APE office, in Pereira, is located at the main entrance of the Commerce and Services Center headquarters, on Carrera 8, between streets 26 and 27, and in Dosquebradas, in the Center for Industrial Technological Design and Innovation in the Santa neighborhood. Isabel. Both offices are open to the public from Monday to Friday. “We estimate that 60% of the people who have attended the Agency have benefited. We have, on average, agreements with 920 companies,” said Mejía Salazar.
The Public Employment Agency is not only an intermediary between the employer and the employee in the national territory, it also has around 320 vacancies in countries such as Germany, Austria and Spain in the health sector.
On the other hand, the Emprender Fund announced a new call to finance up to 130 new business projects and promote 520 jobs, with an investment of $13 billion to support innovative entrepreneurship of Colombians. The call will run until May 31 and will finance business initiatives in all regions and in any sector of the economy. Future entrepreneurs who want to apply their business idea must comply with the steps of the Entity’s ‘Entrepreneurship Route’ and the conditions of the Emprender Fund, which can be consulted at www.fondoemprender.com
“To all the people who want to start the process with Fondo Emprender, I tell you that this is a tool that you can use, since they are going to give you the advice, the structure so that you can launch and fulfill your dreams,” he indicated. Diana Paola Ballesteros, regional Entrepreneurship liaison.
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