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The Shelby County Board of Education says it has no responsibility for the death of a Chelsea High School student whose parents allege bullying contributed to his suicide.
The Shelby County school board - and the school system employees who are being sued by Gloria and Jeremy McQueen - asked a judge to dismiss the case last week.
The McQueens lost their son, Jackson, in 2022 from suicide. In a filing made in April, they alleged Jackson McQueen’s death was a direct result of bullying their child suffered while he was a student in the Shelby County school system.
“Throughout his six years in the Shelby County school system Jackson was relentlessly bullied, teased and abused by other students,” the complaint says.
The McQueens said that employees at the school and at the school board did not “take appropriate action to prevent harm from occurring to him” and “further denied Jackson with the ability to do remote learning which he desperately requested in the days prior to him taking his life.”
But, the attorney for the board, Anne Knox Averitt, said the board members were “unaware of any reports of bullying of J.M. [Jackson McQueen] made by Plaintiffs to Chelsea High School, or of any observations of bullying of J.M. [Jackson McQueen] made by teachers or administrators at the school.”
Averitt has filed a motion to dismiss the case against the board as an entity and on behalf of the members who serve on the board.
In their suit, the McQueens named the Shelby County Board of Education, the board members and employees of the school system, including Superintendent Lewis Brooks. They also named several employees of Chelsea High School, including principal Brandon Turner and two vice principals, Jessica Pickett and Brenton McCaleb in their suit as well as a bus driver, counselor and a teacher.
Mark Boardman, who is representing the employees of the school district and seeking to dismiss the case, said the plaintiffs had failed to enumerate which employee was responsible for what allegation.
“At a minimum they should tell each individual what they did wrong,” Boardman said. “The law requires that.”
