Starnes Digital
Shelby County Board of Education
The front of the Shelby County Schools building in Columbiana on Nov. 4, 2024. Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
A judge dismissed the case brought by the parents of a Chelsea High School student alleging the school system did not do enough to protect their son who later died by suicide.
Gloria and Jeremy McQueen sued Shelby County Schools, the school board and employees of the schools where their son, Jackson McQueen, attended before he took his own life. They said their son was routinely bullied in school during his years in attendance in the school system and those in charge did nothing to prevent the bullying, ultimately leading to his death.
The defendants have maintained they were not liable for Jackson McQueen’s death and twice asked for the judge to dismiss the case that was originally filed in April.
Federal Judge David Proctor ruled Dec. 20 to dismiss the case with prejudice. Proctor said a mix of a failure to reply to the defendants’ motions to dismiss, the fact the original filing had deficiencies and that several defendants had qualified immunity contributed to his ruling.
“In [a previous] Order, the court directed Plaintiffs to show cause on or before December 18, 2024 why the Motions to Dismiss should not be granted as unopposed. The December 18, 2024 deadline has come and passed, and as of the date of entry of this Order, Plaintiffs have not filed anything to respond to the Show Cause Order or requested an extension of time. For that reason alone, this case is due to be dismissed. However, for completeness, the court also analyzes the merits of why this case is due to be dismissed,” Proctor wrote.
Part of Proctor’s rationale was the plaintiffs failed to state specific claims against specific individuals, which did not give the individuals named in the suit claims to specifically rebut constituting a “shotgun pleading.”
“The court’s decision to dismiss this case is multi-layered. Plaintiffs never responded to Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss and ignored a court order directing them to show cause why these motions should not be granted as unopposed,” Proctor wrote. “Additionally, the complaint is still a shotgun pleading even though this is the third amended complaint, various immunity doctrines bar claims against all Defendants, and each claim is due to be dismissed for failure to state a claim.”
Claims made by the McQueens in their court filings said employees in the system knew their son was being bullied and didn’t do enough to prevent the bullying.
“In the year preceding his death Jackson had come to believe that nothing would be done to stop, or even mitigate, the bullying and abuse he endured,” the filing said. “He expressed feeling hopeless and believed everyone at the school hated him. He could not understand why this was the case, but he could not be convinced otherwise.”
For six years, Jackson McQueen was a student in the Shelby County system starting at fourth grade at Chelsea Park Elementary until his final year as a freshman at Chelsea High School.
In April of 2022, Jackson McQueen died after shooting himself at his home.
