School Experience Was 'Living Nightmare' For Children, LI Parents Claim In Federal Lawsuit

LONG ISLAND, NY — A Long Island couple says their children were bullied — including one being photographed while using the bathroom, with an image shared on Snapchat — while the Patchogue-Medford School District took little to no action, a federal lawsuit claims.

The parents claim their son, who was only identified by his initials, was subject to gender-based discrimination in what became "a living nightmare," according to the lawsuit.

The suit said that the boy was subjected to "harassment, bullying, intimidation, and a hostile educational environment," and that officials failed "to prevent, respond to, adequately investigate, and/or appropriately resolve and remedy instances of unlawful discrimination; and by exhibiting deliberate indifference to the risk that he would be subjected to unlawful discrimination and a hostile educational environment."

Named in the lawsuit were the Patchogue-Medford School District, South Ocean Middle School, Principal Timothy Piciullo, Assistant Principal Maria Del Pilar Erdman, and teacher Ryan Crabtree.

Through a representative from the public relations firm, district officials said they do not comment "on individual student matters or pending litigation."

The mother, who worked for the district, ended up leaving her job as a result of the incidents, according to the lawsuit.

She declined comment. Patch is not identifying the parents so as to protect the identity of the minor.

Patch has reached out to the family's attorney, Marc Andrew Kramer of Patchogue.

The boy started being bullied in 5th grade at South Ocean Middle School, and has been subjected to treatment such as being assaulted, photographed while using to the bathroom, verbally abused, and treated like "an outcast," according to the lawsuit.

One bully also started a rumor that the boy was "touching himself" in the bathroom — he was called a name and ridiculed — and in another incident, the boy was reprimanded after he defended himself from the bullies, the suit says.

In the lawsuit, the parents claim they filed complaints and school district officials took "little to no steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing in this increasingly hostile environment" and law enforcement was not involved when it should have been.

"Despite valid findings of bullying, and situations that should have involved the police, or even implementing a viable safety plan, the district placed the onus of protecting [the boy] on his family," the lawsuit states, adding that the boy "was forced to isolate himself to avoid bullying."

"Day by day," the parents "bore witness to the degradation of their child’s once bright and hopeful spirit," the lawsuit states.

Some of the incidents included being struck with a book, called a "homophobic" term, and becoming the subject of a series of bullying TikTok videos from December 2023 to February 2024, according to the lawsuit.

The boy started missing classes, avoiding the school bus and after-school activities, and experiencing eating difficulties, as well as heightened anxiety and depression; he was brought to medical professionals and threatened self-harm, and was hospitalized at one point, according to the lawsuit.

He was eventually left back due to his attendance record, the lawsuit states.

When his counselor intervened out of concern for his mental health, the medical professional was told by Principal Piciullo that the boy was not subject to bullying, but "a series of conflicts," according to the lawsuit.

The boy's sister was also bullied by a "female aggressor" who made a harassing phone call to her, and in another instance in which she was the subject of a bullying video that claimed "everyone hated her," the lawsuit states.

She was also subjected to cruel treatment such as being invited to lunch by other girls, then ignored, and when she sought help for an anxiety attack at the nurse's office, Erdman berated her, the lawsuit states.

After that, school officials would not pick up the school's phone when the mother called, until after she cloaked her number with the privacy setting on her cellphone, according to the lawsuit.

The mother was "subsequently admonished" over an off-school incident at a non-school event where her children were verbally attacked by one of the bullies and others, according to the lawsuit.

Piciullo and a representative of human resources reportedly "chastised" her and advised her that she was to represent the interest of the school district before the well-being of her family and her children’s physical and mental well-being, and she was issued a letter of reprimand that she believes was the reason why she lost a promotion to a position for which she was the only in-house applicant, the lawsuit states.

"It is too little too late for [the children], who suffered over two years of bullying, harassment, and discrimination due to Patchogue-Medford School District’s failure to protect [the children] from cruel and relentless bullying and discrimination from peers and school staff," the lawsuit states.