CPS failed to protect student from repeated sexual abuse at Dunbar, a new lawsuit alleges

A former Chicago Public Schools student claims a school security guard repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he was a sophomore at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, according to a new lawsuit.

The student, now 18, also claims that Dunbar’s teachers and staff failed to protect him and failed to intervene and investigate the sexual misconduct, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against the security guard and the Chicago Board of Education.

The student, named John Doe in the lawsuit, was new to the South Side school in November 2021 when the security guard, Tywain Carter, began grooming him, the lawsuit said.

Carter told the boy he would protect him from “bullies and gang members.” He then began taking the student out of class, taking him to a staff-only computer lab, and sexually assaulting him. The regular abuse, including rape and other violent acts, continued for several weeks in November and December, the complaint said.

“John Doe was brutally and repeatedly sexually assaulted and abused by a security guard hired by CPS,” said Scott Lane, a senior partner at Lane Brown and one of the student’s attorneys.

“CPS allowed these attacks and abuses and therefore they are responsible for what happened. And unfortunately, John Doe is not the only victim of CPS failures. There are many victims of sexual violence and abuse in the CPS system,” Lane told reporters Thursday.

A CPS spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

“The safety and well-being of our staff and students are top priorities and fundamentals for our school communities,” a CPS spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The district “actively works to prevent sexual abuse and thoroughly tackles all reports of abuse. District leaders and staff understand the traumatic impact of sexual assault and continually strive to educate leaders, teachers and students about the topic and the reporting process,” the statement continued.

The lawsuit aims to determine why Dunbar staff failed to protect the student and raise awareness of the district’s failure to protect students from sexual assault and an unspecified amount.

The student, who was 15 at the time, told his mother in December what was happening and his parents subsequently reported the abuse to Chicago police and the school. Carter was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty in 2023 to sexually assaulting John Doe and another Dunbar student. He is serving an eight-year prison sentence.

“The school has failed me,” the student said in a written statement. “No child should ever have to sacrifice their innocence for safety, but I lost mine and now I endure constant pain and fear in this world.”

The lawsuit also alleges that teachers and staff at Dunbar failed to follow CPS procedures for recognizing and reporting sexual assault, said Nick Kamenjarin, another attorney for John Doe and a partner at Lane Brown.

“This was a classic example of exactly what CPS staff, administrators and teachers are trained to witness and report,” Kamenjarin said.

Dunbar teachers and administrators should have recognized something was wrong when Carter repeatedly pulled the student out of class for no reason and took him to an undisclosed location for an extended period of time, Kamenjarin said.

“Yet they continually failed to follow not only their education, but also the written policies and procedures of Chicago Public Schools, as well as their common sense,” he said.

The boy’s father said in a written statement that even after Carter was sent to prison, “no one from Dunbar ever contacted us to ask how our son was doing, let alone express any regrets about what he had done.” had happened to him. That hurts.”

John Doe remained at Dunbar for several weeks after the abuse, but eventually left the school because it became too painful to stay, his lawyers said. He eventually graduated from another school. But since then he has struggled to live a normal life and recover from the trauma, his mother said in a statement.

“CPS ignored all these safeguards and, quite frankly, demonstrated that they were cold and uncaring. They just never did anything,” Lane said.

“It is that attitude, that cold and uncaring attitude that allowed these attacks and abuse to happen in the first place.”