CHICAGO — A federal jury has ordered the Chicago Board of Education to pay $750,000 to the family of a child who was abused at a Chicago public school in late 2018.
The lawsuit was filed by Asia Gaines, the mother of “JC,” who was a student at George W. Tilton Elementary School in West Garfield Park when the abuse occurred in September 2018, according to a spokesperson for the Chicago law firm Loevy & Loevy.
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According to the indictment, “JC” was only nine years old when his mentor, Kristen Haynes, arranged for her friend, Juanita Tyler, to come to the school to discipline the child.
The family’s attorneys said Tyler was an estranged relative of JC’s father, but that the child did not know her personally. They added that Tyler had no authority to be on school grounds and had not asked permission from the child’s parents or informed them of the incident.
“We are pleased and relieved that this jury saw through the defendants’ ever-changing story and the Board of Education’s attempt to avoid responsibility for its employee’s actions,” said Al Hofeld, Jr. of the law firm of Al Hofeld, Jr. LLC.
Haynes, who had taught at the school for 15 years, was fired over the incident.
In 2020, Tyler was found guilty of domestic violence in a criminal trial, but Haynes was acquitted of assault and child abuse.
On Wednesday, the jury found both Haynes and Tyler liable for the pain and post-traumatic stress JC suffered as a result of the incident.
During her testimony this week, Haynes was described as the school’s disciplinarian and was said to have kept two adult leather belts in her classroom, known to students as “Mr. Brown” and “Mr. Black.”
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“The Board of Education knows all too well what Kristen Haynes did to JC,” said Julia Rickert of Loevy & Loevy. “The attorney’s argument to the jury today that such conduct could never occur in a CPS school was disingenuous and a betrayal of the public trust.”
Wednesday’s decision came after six days of testimony and four and a half hours of deliberation by a federal jury.
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