A family received over $300,000 in compensation from the Greater Albany Public School District in a discrimination lawsuit.
ALBANY, Ore.-- An Albany family is getting a sizable settlement from the Greater Albany Public School District after they filed a lawsuit against the district saying they violated their students’ rights.
Lior and their family said they are now ready to move on from their traumatic bullying and harassment they experienced during their time at Oak Grove Elementary School.
"A student had threatened to pull my pants down and show the world who I truly was," Lior said. “People called me the F-slur, they told me I was the devil spawn."
Lior says from third grade to fifth grade, they were continuously bullied by students without assistance from administrators.
Lior uses they/them pronouns and said the torment lasted for years with little help from school administrators. Lior’s mother, Elaine Kelsey, said one traumatic moment stand out when driving the young student home.
"We were driving in the car and they said to me, "mom, you're a great mom. My family loves me, but what's happening at school -- I just see that nobody in the world will accept somebody like me,'” Kelsey said. “I remember very clearly I was in a spot where I couldn't pull off the road and I was just trying to keep them from jumping out of the car.”
After the family filed a discrimination lawsuit against the district, the trial jury found they district discriminated against Lior. The verdict lead to an award of more than $300,000 in compensation. Lior said the outcome of the trial helped change their life for the better.
“It changed my life in everyday imaginable. It changed my life, it truly made me have faith that eight strangers that were on that jury believed me,” Lior said. “I truly felt that what happened to me was against the law and shouldn't have happened."
Elaine Kelsey the cycle of abuse from students was so bad, she had to remove Lior from the district because of safety concerns.
Lior is now 15 and no longer attends the Greater Albany Public School District. Lior and their attorney, Caitlin Mitchell, said they hope this will be used as a learning experience for both the district and others who may be dealing with the same treatment.
“Really, I think this case stands for something that should be simple, all students deserve safety no matter who they are,” Mitchell said. “No matter what their sexual orientation is, what their gender identity, what pronouns they want to use.”
"A hundred percent, I feel like I'm in a place where I can start focusing on other aspects of my life and where I can keep making change and impact where I can,” Lior said. “A phrase I heard a lot was, 'it gets better,' and that's something I didn't believe at the time, but it's something I firmly believe in now."
The Greater Albany School District said in a written statement saying in part quote "our district is leaning on the Oregon Department of Education's Supporting Gender expansion students’ guidance which was released just this January,” the district said. “This guidance helps our staff understand how best to support our LGBTQ+ students and create classroom environments in which all students may thrive.”
The district also said they created a new equity, diversity, and inclusion department back in 2021.
