Student's school of hard knocks to cost district $160,000
A 2012 beating suffered by a Frankford High School student at the hands of an assistant principal is about to cost the School District of Philadelphia $160,000.
A 2012 beating suffered by a Frankford High School student at the hands of an assistant principal is about to cost the School District of Philadelphia $160,000.
The School Reform Commission, during its Thursday meeting, is to approve a settlement for that amount in exchange for former student Josue Ortega's dropping the federal civil rights lawsuit he filed in 2013 alleging abuse.
Ortega's attorney, Steve Barrett, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
School District spokesman Fernando Gallard said he could not comment on pending litigation, but confirmed that the SRC is scheduled to vote Thursday on the settlement resolution, a copy of which was posted on the district's website.
The resolution states that Ortega will be paid $80,000 within 60 days of the vote and $80,000 on or before July 31.
According to the lawsuit, on Nov. 2, 2012, Ortega, an 18-year-old junior, was roughed up in the school's hallway by assistant principal Edward Roulhac.
Ortega suffered a neck sprain and spasms, a concussion, headaches, blurred vision, depression, light sensitivity, emotional harm, and other injuries, according to the suit.
The plaintiff was with a friend, identified only as "Rene," when Roulhac "initiated an argument with them," the suit states.
At one point, Roulhac, who is 6 feet 3 and weighs 220 pounds, "unsuccessfully and violently attempted to grab [Ortega's] hat off his head," the suit says.
During the confrontation Roulhac allegedly used an obscenity in demanding that Ortega give him his phone, before forcibly removing it from the student's belongings, the complaint says.
Roulhac "then punched plaintiff in his face and then grabbed him and forcefully slammed [him] into file cabinets," according to the complaint.
A school police officer told the assistant principal he went "overboard," the complaint says.
Roulhac, of Blue Bell, was laid off in June 2013. He, then-Frankford High principal Reginald D. Fischer, and School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. were named as defendants.
Fischer is also no longer employed by the district, said Gallard, who added that he did not know the circumstances that led to Roulhac's and Fischer's departures.
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