Nebo School District sued over allegations of failing to protect student from bullying, assault

PAYSON — Two Utah County parents are suing Nebo School District and two district employees, alleging their child was assaulted after school officials failed to act on a pattern of anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment.

The lawsuit — initially filed in Utah’s 4th District Court in March but later transferred to federal court due to the complaint alleging violations of constitutional rights — was filed by Lander Allen and Charlene Allen, on behalf of their minor child, identified in the lawsuit as L.A.

The plaintiffs are alleging, among other things, that L.A. was targeted and harassed for identifying as bisexual during her time at Payson Junior High School and that the district “condoned and even encouraged” the harassment.

Timeline

The majority of the 20-page lawsuit focuses on the actions of a female Payson Junior High School student identified in the lawsuit as A.G., who, along with her friends, “frequently harassed and insulted” L.A. and her friends, according to the complaint.

The harassment from A.G. and her friends, the lawsuit said, began around the fall or winter of 2023.

On multiple occasions throughout 2023 and 2024, the lawsuit alleges L.A. was subjected to homophobic and gendered slurs, called a “furry” and barked at in the halls of the school.

Both L.A. and her parents “repeatedly” reported this behavior to Payson Junior High officials, including assistant principal Tammy Halcrow, an additional defendant in the lawsuit.

“L.A. was told that A.G. and her friends would be ‘talked to,’ but no punishment was ever enforced for their harassing behavior,” said the lawsuit.

Eventually, the lawsuit alleges the harassment turned physical in late 2032 or early 2024 when, during a class, L.A. was pushed into a desk by A.G.

On one occasion, L.A.’s harassers put bugs in L.A.’s food, and on a different occasion, a different group of students threw full water bottles at L.A. and her friends while barking at them, according to the lawsuit.

“School officials, including Halcrow, neglected to document L.A.’s or L.A.’s mother’s reports of bullying, resulting in the sustained and repeated bullying of L.A. and other LGBTQ individuals to continue without disciplinary escalation,” said the lawsuit.

The assault

In February 2024, the lawsuit states L.A. warned Angela Bates — a teacher at Payson Junior High and additional defendant in the lawsuit — that A.G. planned to initiate a fight with her after school.

“Bates told L.A. that she would report this threat to the principal at the end of class, but she did not do so. Bates did not take any action to protect L.A. at the end of the class period or while L.A. was transferring between classes, despite knowing A.G.’s history of bullying L.A.,” said the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that on that day, A.G. waited until L.A. was walking through the hall to her next class, then “approached her from behind and knocked into her side” to initiate a physical altercation before L.A. “responded in surprise and fear with a defensive swipe toward A.G.”

In video footage of the alleged incident provided to KSL, a student can be seen approaching L.A., grabbing her hair and striking her repeatedly in the face and head area.

The lawsuit said A.G. “unleashed a barrage of strikes against L.A.’s head and neck, hitting L.A. with rapid force approximately 29 times in a row.”

This alleged attack went on for over a minute before a teacher came out of his classroom to intervene and, according to the lawsuit, it took another student interjecting to pull A.G. off L.A. and end the attack.

“L.A. suffered a concussion, a bloody nose, contusions to her head and neck, and pain and stiffness in her head and neck that impeded her ability to move her head side to side,” said the lawsuit.

Aside from the physical harm, the incident led L.A. to withdraw from school and transfer to Salem Junior High School, also in the Nebo School District.

But the lawsuit said A.G. also transferred to Salem Junior High, and despite A.G. and L.A. signing a no-contact order, the harassment persisted to the point where L.A. has been pulled out of school entirely in favor of homeschooling.

“This was not an isolated incident,” Zachary Myers, attorney from Christensen & Jensen, said in a statement. “There was a clear pattern of bullying and harassment, repeated warnings to school officials, and a specific warning that the assailant was planning to attack our client. The school did nothing to protect them, and they were viciously assaulted later that day. This lawsuit is critical in holding Nebo School District accountable for its role in condoning sexist, anti-LGBTQ bullying.”

A spokesman for Nebo School District said the district “does not comment on active or pending litigation.”