(WXYZ) – A former teacher at Orchard Lake Schools St. Mary’s Preparatory High School is suing the school for illegal termination.
The lawsuit alleges he was fired after reporting an incident in which a student was sexually assaulted by a group of students.
The school says in a statement that I don’t think they did anything wrong.
That’s why lawyer Robert Palmer says his clients, the teacher and the student, have decided to sue.
In 2019, some of St. Mary’s Prep allegedly played games in the shared showers they called “Empty Bowling” and “Stanky Pretzel,” where one student stands naked in front of another student.
According to a lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Palmer, his client, a junior at the time of the incident did not like those games.
The junior was in the top of his class, in the National Honor Society, and one of the 3 juniors invited to a school retreat with about 30 seniors according to the process.
One night, in that school retreat, court documents say that about 8 boys wearing towels entered his room, lifted him by the arms and legs “trying to undress him simultaneously and pull him into the hallway.” .
“And they wanted to drag him into the shower, where they put soap and water on the floor and intended to throw naked bodies at each other in ’empty bowling’, with all parts of their anatomy touching pretty rough things,” says the lawyer. Robert Palmer.
The day after this incident, the students joked that they would “catch” him that night.
“He was approached by the attendant who said that if you don’t want to participate, you can close your door tonight,” says Palmer, noting that the occupants knew what was going on.
That night, according to court documents, the student locked the door and locked it with a chair, and the students were still “knocking on the door and trying to enter his room.”
After the retreat, the student told Donald Ambrose, a teacher for more than 20 years at St. Mary’s.
Ambrose went to school principal Bob Pyles to report the behavior. Pyles, according to court documents, said “the severity of the sexual assault on March 20, 2019, was rated at about” 5 “on a scale of 1 to 10.”
Ambrose then went to the chancellor of the schools of the Rev. Krol Orchard Lake to report the incident.
9 days later he was fired.
The trial says Ambrose was told he was fired for not responding promptly to emails and for an incident 2 months earlier, when he detained a student for cursing in class, an incident for which he had not been reprimanded before. the day he was fired, the complaint of the trial.
Ambrose is now suing the School for “illegal retaliation and deliberate indifference.”
The student never returned to school and instead chose to do home school in the last year. The student also sues the school.
“We don’t want to tear down the school, I’m sure it’s a wonderful school. We want to see a change and we want to see the school responsible, ”says Palmer.
“Although it would be inappropriate to comment on the dismissal of any employee, there are several false accusations made in this process. We plan to present the truth in court.
In a statement, Stephen Gross, president of the Orchard Lake School Board, says:
Although it would not be inappropriate to comment on the dismissal of an employee, there are several false accusations made in this process. We plan to present the truth in court.
The administration conducted an investigation immediately after learning of these allegations, which was overseen by a member of our board. We are confident that once this information is made public, it will prove that the school has acted in a completely appropriate manner.
The safety of every student is our top priority at Orchard Lake schools. We take any accusation of unsafe behavior or misconduct seriously and do not tolerate any behavior that endangers the health and safety of any student.
Stephen Gross, chairman of the Board of Regents, Orchard Lake Schools