Federal judges have denied an appeal from a former Myers Park High School student who sued Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, saying the district failed to properly investigate her claim of an alleged sexual assault involving another student and protect her after the encounter.
The ruling issued Monday from the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals comes after a jury last year found CMS did not violate the Title IX rights of the student, referred to in the lawsuit as Jane Doe.
In a statement, Charles Jeter, executive director of government affairs, policy and board communications for CMS, said the court "correctly upheld the decision made by a jury in January of 2023. The jury made that decision after hearing all the evidence and reaching a conclusion that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education did not violate Title IX."
An attorney for the student's family, Laura Dunn, declined to comment.
The case revolved around a sexual assault that allegedly took place on Nov. 3, 2015, in a wooded area about a mile from the high school in south Charlotte.
Doe, who was then 17 years old, said she went to the area about 7 a.m. with an 18-year-old male student who forced her to perform oral sex on him despite her telling him, "I didn't want to do this."
Her attorneys said she was traumatized by the failure of Officer Bradley Leak, then-Principal Mark Bosco and then-Assistant Principal Anthony Perkins to believe or properly investigate her account or protect her from harm after the assault.
In court testimony, CMS officials said they concluded the case was not sexual assault because they didn't find evidence force had been used.
Lawyers for CMS also said the male student was suspended while the district investigated the incident, and reassigned him so he wouldn't be in the same class or lunch period with Doe when he returned.
In 2021, prior to the case going to trial, Bosco was suspended as principal of Myers Park and reassigned following complaints from students and parents that he had mishandled multiple sexual assault investigations on campus, including the one detailed in Jane Doe’s lawsuit.
A CMS investigation, however, determined “there was "no basis to conclude that Mark Bosco mishandled or failed to respond to any allegations of sexual misconduct,” according to an attorney for Bosco.
Doe ultimately left the high school before her family filed suit in 2018. The lawsuit had sought damages of $1 million.
WFAE's Sarah Delia and Ann Doss Helms contributed to this report.
