ROCK SPRINGS — Sweetwater County School District No. 1 has categorically denied a complaint made against it by Richard and Danielle Kaumo alleging the district violated a student’s civil rights on numerous occasions during the 2016-17 school year.
The Kaumos’ complaint alleges that the student, a first grader at the time, was repeatedly restrained in a chair, drug down a hallway, and left in a room by himself for upwards of two hours.
The complaint alleges that this occurred “approximately 10 times in a two-month period” during the 2016-2017 school year.
Desert View Elementary School Principal Barbara Rezzonico, Desert View Counselor Christi Carson, SWCSD No. 1 Special Education Director Kayci Arnoldi, and the student’s teacher, Candace Foster, have all been named in the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in the Tenth District Court in Cheyenne on October 22. Yesterday, December 10, the school district filed its answer to the complaint.
The Response
In the document, the district flatly denies all allegations set forth by the Kaumos, or denies them based on “lack (of) sufficient evidence to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.”
The district has asked the court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice based on the Kaumos’ failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and failing to comply with the requirements of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act.
SWCSD No. 1 also states in its response that the individuals named in the lawsuit “were at all times acting under the color of law and are protected from liability under the doctrine of qualified immunity.”
It also denies any responsibility in injuring the student, stating that any damage or injury came from “other persons or entities over whom the Defendants had neither control or right of control,” according to the court document.
The document states that any damages or injury that the student suffered were the natural consequences of the student’s pre-existing conditions.
When asked for comment, Kelly McGovern, SWCSD No. 1 Superintendent of Schools told SweetwaterNOW, “The District has been served with a Complaint which will be addressed in further proceedings before the court.”
The Complaint
Richard and Danielle Kaumo filed the complaint on behalf of the student back in October. They allege that for the first half of the 2016-2017 school year, the student had little to no behavioral issues while attending school at Desert View Elementary.
That changed about halfway through the year when the student began to exhibit behavioral issues. The Kaumos claim they attempted to remedy the situation by utilizing medication and counseling.
The complaint also states that the Kaumos “attempted to extensively work with” both School District No. 1 and 2 “in an attempt to remedy the situation.”
According to the complaint, the medication and counseling improved the student’s behavioral issues to some extent, “but not to the extent it should have.”
The Kaumos claim they could not discern the cause of the behavioral problems until they were informed by a former employee of the district that the student was treated “very inappropriately” while attending school at Desert View Elementary.
The former employee told the Kaumos that Rezzonico would grab and throw the student in a chair and hold the student down, according to the complaint.
It was also reported that while the student was being restrained, Rezzonico and others would drag the student down the hallway in the chair to a room and left alone “for upwards of 1.5 to 2 hours at a time.”
However, it was only after the Kaumos decided to move the student to another school that they “were made aware of what was going on with the situation by a School District employee,” according to the complaint.
They also claim that the district ignored them or failed to follow appropriate district protocols as to their concerns, or attempted to have the district’s law firm conduct an investigation into the matter.
The Kaumos’ lawsuit claims violation of civil rights and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the student.
