PHS Student Files Suit Against Teacher, School District
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Adding to the Pittsfield High School's woes is a lawsuit filed in federal court accusing officials failing to intervene in a teacher's sexual harassment of a student.
The school last week put two of its administrators on leave because of external investigations: Dean of Students Lavante Wiggins was arrested and arraigned by federal authorities on drug trafficking charges and the other is the subject of an investigation by the state Department of Children and Families.
The lawsuit, first reported by The Berkshire Eagle, was filed in September in U.S. District Court in Springfield.
A PHS student has accused retired English teacher Robert Barsanti of making inappropriate comments to her and to the class and Pittsfield Public Schools for failing to act. Barsanti apparently retired at the end of the last school year based on a post on the Pittsfield Public Schools' Facebook page.
According to the court documents, the teacher made comments about the plaintiff's mother using her home technology to make porn, told students that he had worked at a strip club called the Golden Banana and assigned them to write a story about it, discussed the sexual proclivities of animals, frequently discussed his porn addiction and made jokes about a transgender student's genitalia.
The complainant also states that Barsanti put her face between his hands and asked her to go into a closet with him.
The student and her mother met with school officials, according to the lawsuit, notified the Title IX coordinator and filed a written complaint. They say other students corroborated their account.
The complaint states that the principal admitted they were aware of Barsanti's harassment because of past complaints.
"The Title IX findings by the neutral investigator concluded that Defendant Barsanti, in his role as an authority figure and as one who had control of the curriculum and held a power dynamic in the classroom, engaged in sexual harassment," according to the lawsuit, which continued that "The Title IX findings were based on the investigator's findings that Defendant Barsanti’s conduct amounted to unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the school's education program or activity."
The student was granted a schedule change so she "would not have to endure Defendant Barsanti's classroom."
The complaint states that the school's failure to act violated Title IX in that it allowed Barsanti to create a hostile atmosphere in which female students were "denied equal access to benefits, services, programs and other activities at the same level as male students."
Barsanti has denied the allegations.
The student is asking for punitive damages and coverage of attorney's fees as determined by a trial by jury.
Tags: harassment, lawsuit, PHS, US Court,
