Angela Wells says teachers at her son’s former South Side school did not protect him when, she says, another student started to sexually abuse him.
"I was disheartened, I was upset," she told NBC 5 Monday. "All of these things could have been prevented, if the teachers would have done their job."
Wells says the abuse happened at Marquette Elementary School last school year.
Wells says it happened for a month, before her then 10-year-old son told her what had been going on.
“It started with the boy kissing him on the forehead," Wells said. "And that’s when told the teacher, after that it went on to him touching his body parts."
Wells says her son immediately reported the abuse to two teachers, but she says those teachers never informed her, or school administrators about the abuse.
Wells has now filed a federal lawsuit against the teachers, the school and Chicago Public Schools, for ignoring abuse she says has forever damaged her son.
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“He was withdrawn from a lot of activities that he normally would participate in,” she said.
Wells' attorney, Kelly Krauchun, said officials should have acted on the alleged incident.
“(They) should have contacted by all means the minor child’s parent these people need to be made aware," Krauchun said. "Yet a month went by and his mother didn’t have any knowledge of it."
In a statement, CPS said it could not comment about the lawsuit, but said its new Office of Student Protections will oversee “investigations into allegations of student-on-student abuse" and “ensures students are paired with an advocate immediately following an allegation.”
“Maybe it will open their eyes to the seriousness of what is going on at CPS,” Wells said.
