Two years after parents of Mead High School students were notified of hazing at a football camp, multiple civil cases could soon come to an end.
After trying to protect a few of his teammates from hazing at an overnight football camp in June 2023, a Mead High School football player was pinned down by four older students and assaulted with a massage gun as “punishment,” a July 2024 lawsuit against Mead School District claims.
Cellphone videos of the assault circulated throughout the Mead community, and two weeks after the incident a parent sent the videos to the district’s athletic director, who forwarded them to Mead High School football coach Keith Stamps. However, the civil suit’s initial complaint states that it took the district nearly eight months for anyone at the district to notify the victim’s parents. (The perpetrators involved were referred to a diversion program instead of being charged with assault, the Spokesman-Review reported.)
“When parents send their kids to school-sponsored activities, they should be able to trust the school officials tasked with keeping their kids safe,” the complaint reads. “That trust has been betrayed by Mead School District.”
On Feb. 23, 2024, the day after Mead High School Principal Kimberly Jensen notified the family of the victim who was filmed about what happened, a parent filed a report with the Eastern Washington University Police Department, as the football camp took place on campus.
“[Reporting party] said [redacted] told him some high schoolers sexually assaulted at least one student,” officer Jose Villasano wrote in the report. “[Reporting party] advised there may be an additional victim making the total two, but that it is very probable more victims were sexually assaulted.”
The July 2024 complaint was filed on behalf of the student who was filmed, who was entering his sophomore year at the time of the incident. The complaint also alleges that upperclassmen hazed a former Mead student at the 2022 football camp in the same way — masked players held him down and used a massage gun on his genitals in what’s referred to in court documents as a ritual called “the sacrifice” — and that in 2023, three other students were targeted.
In November 2024, these four other students along with their parents filed a separate lawsuit against the school district.
Both lawsuits filed in Spokane County Superior Court argue that the Mead School District, or MSD, neglected its duty to keep students safe, failed to abide by the state’s mandatory reporting laws for sexual assault and harrassment, and violated nondiscrimination laws in its response to the alleged assaults. Attorneys argue that the victims’ reported assaults were treated differently due to their race and gender. Four of the five plaintiffs are Black, and they are all male.
In December 2024, Stamps was fired for his handling of the player misconduct that led to these lawsuits, and Jensen resigned from her position at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
On Monday, March 23, Judge Annette Plese issued a partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in the July 2024 case.
“The Court found there were no genuine issues of material fact in dispute,” the ruling states. “MSD could not bring forth any evidence to demonstrate there were genuine issues of material facts to rebut the Plaintiff’s evidence.”
In addition to breaching its “duty to protect students from foreseeable harm,” Plese ruled that the school district engaged in gender-based discrimination and failed to follow the state’s mandatory reporting law — when mandatory reporters such as coaches or school administrators have “reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect,” they’re required to report it to law enforcement as soon as possible, but not later than 48 hours after they’ve been made aware.
“The Court has now made clear those duties were violated as a matter of law,” Marcus Sweetser, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated in a March 25 press release. “This case is about accountability. At the center of it are children who were entitled to protection, honesty, and adult intervention. Accountability is how institutions change. It is how we protect the next child—not just explain what happened to the last.”
“The Order on Partial Summary Judgment resolves specific issues before trial, while leaving open the possibility that other issues may still be litigated,” Mead School District stated in response to the ruling, the Spokesman-Review reported. “As these matters remain undecided and subject to ongoing litigation, the District will rely upon counsel to address the facts and matters regarding damages.”
A jury trial to determine damages for the victim from the July 2024 case was scheduled for May, but a few days after Plese’s ruling the school district’s attorneys filed a motion to amend the case schedule.
“The current trial date is impractical given the remaining discovery to be performed by both parties, and continuing this trial is well within the discretion of the Court,” one of the school district’s attorneys, Amanda Daylong, wrote in the March 25 motion.
Daylong’s motion also asked Plese to continue the trial to a later date and consolidate the case with the November 2024 lawsuit. In the last few months, two of the four plaintiffs in that case have settled out of court and dismissed their claims, and a third is currently in the process of settling through an appointed guardian.
“Clearly, only two claimants remain, and they are represented by the same attorney, so judicial economy favors consolidation,” Daylong’s motion states. “The matters stem from [the] same core issues and alleged facts. In addition to needless costs and time, there is also a risk of inconsistent verdicts.”
Plese granted the school district’s motions on March 27 and the consolidated trial for both cases is currently scheduled to begin on June 15, according to Spokane County court records.
