A 14-year-old Christian student in Florida, who is “seeking significant damages because the school has destroyed his educational experience,” filed a lawsuit against students and teachers who allegedly attacked and bullied him to stop him from reading his Bible at school.
According to the 206-page lawsuit filed by the Dhillon Law Group on behalf of Nicholas Ortiz through his parents, Rafael and Lourdes Ortiz, against Mater Academy, a public charter school in Hialeah Gardens, Nicholas has been discriminated and retaliated because he was a Christian. He repeatedly made his school aware of the bullying he experienced through words and actions yet the school failed to report them as required under the law.
In an article published by Christian Post, Nicholas, who is a high school freshman began attending Mater Academy Cutler Bay in 2018. In his free time at the school, the teen would often read his bible in a bid to further his faith. However, many of his fellow students, school staff, and administrators were contrasting about it. According to the complaint, several aggressive incidents have happened to him while living out his faith at the school.
"During a fall 2021 classroom discussion, Nicholas's science teacher, Mr. Ardieta, singled out Nicholas in front of his peers and questioned him for believing in God. Mr. Ardieta insinuated that he was ignorant for believing the bible," the suit said.
Nicholas attempted to defend his beliefs yet Mr. Ardieta cut him off and said "Nicholas should not believe the Bible" during a classroom discussion.
From then on, heexperienced similar attitudes from fellow students at the school who "regularly made disparaging comments" to him and his beliefs. They threatened him with violence publicly and privately, both in general and on account of his faith.
Nicholas' parents claimed they repeatedly complained to the school about the bullying done against him, yet nothing has been done to protect him. Lourdes sent multiple emails to the school informing all the threats his son experienced at their school.
"She stated that other children had told Nicholas that they were going to sacrifice him, were taunting him and that they falsely accused Nicholas of having a knife in his bag," the lawsuit said. In September 2021, his bible was vandalized by other students, who also ripped and threw its pages apart. He reported it yet Vice-Principal Polido ordered him to just stop bringing it to the school.
After then, Nicholas was falsely accused by fellow students through Discord Chat stating that he made school shooting threats in the past and planning to shoot a student that day and they should tell their parents. It went viral at the school to the point that even parents were sharing across social media platforms. The U.S. Department of Homeland carried out an investigation but found the allegations were baseless.
Nicholas and his parents suffered severe emotional, reputational, and economic damages as the school retaliated against Nicholas due to false allegations. The school suspended him for the maximum time allowed for fabricated allegations that he threatened a school shooting. Instead of giving the student the chance to prove himself innocent, the school believed in false accusations made by his fellow students.
Dhillon Law partner, Matthew Sarelson said, "Imagine being falsely accused of threatening to shoot up a school. Law enforcement concluded that he was being pranked by fellow students, but that did not stop numerous parents from spreading the false accusation online." He claimed that these students were never disciplined in any way. "Only Nicholas was suspended without due process and for no valid reason," Sarelson added.
Mater Academy doesn't have any comments regarding the matter according to the reports.
