Cherry Hill schools settle suit over nickname
The Cherry Hill School District has agreed to settle a lawsuit with parents who allege a teacher gave their daughter a sexually-charged nickname.
The Cherry Hill School District has agreed to settle a lawsuit with parents who allege a teacher gave their daughter a sexually-charged nickname.
The federal civil-rights lawsuit also named the teacher, Thomas DiPatri Jr., as a defendant.
A tentative settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Camden does not specify the amount, only that attorneys and family are working out an annuity plan for a 'friendly' settlement hearing not yet scheduled.
The original suit, filed March 18, claimed that DiPatri, a Cherry Hill High School West English teacher, instructed his honors students to call the girl "Handy Mandy," a reference to masturbation.
The girl complained to her guidance counselor in January, the suit says. The girl alleges that students relentlessly teased her with that and other epithets, and that the torment was encouraged.
DiPatri was briefly suspended.
But the girl's school days, "became so unbearable, that she was forced to leave school and receive home instruction per her pediatrician's advice," the lawsuit claims.
The suit further says the school's response was discriminatory under Title IX, a federal law.