A student said she's been traumatized by classmates and staff, and now her mother is suing.
The alleged incidents stretch across several years at Wildwood IB World Magnet School, 6950 N. Hiawatha Ave., on the city's Far Northwest Side.
The alleged victim of abuse was just 10 years old in 5th grade when it started. The lawsuit claims it was so extreme, the young girl became suicidal.
Despite repeated attempts to get the school to improve the situation, attorneys say the abuse continued and even got worse.
"My daughter didn't just fall through the cracks, she was placed in them," mother Sherron Hinton said.
Hinton said her now 13-year-old daughter has been subjected to three years of discrimination and verbal and physical abuse from fellow students and even teachers at Wildwood elementary school.
"Jenny reports students are calling her fat, ugly, shaped like an eggs, shaped like a football," attorney Cass Casper said. "Jenny's the only Black student in her class. This is race-based."
Her attorneys have now filed a lawsuit against Chicago Public Schools and several individual teachers on behalf of the girl who is identified by the alias "Jenny Doe" in the filing.
"The bullying was so extreme that Jenny became suicidal and had to be hospitalized," attorney Jamaal Buchanan said.
The lawsuit claims "'Jenny Doe' was subjected to an escalating campaign of race-based, verbal, sexual, and physical harassment by Wildwood students, misconduct that was reported to, or actually known by Wildwood personnel."
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"My daughter was physically, emotionally and sexually harmed while attending a school that was supposed to protect her," Hinton said.
In one of the alleged incidents, "Jenny Doe" says one of her teachers rubbed up against her inappropriately, and another teacher allegedly hit her with with a clipboard or a rolled-up paper.
In response, a spokesperson for CPS released a statement saying, "Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is committed to the safety and well-being of our students. The District does not provide comment on pending litigation."
The alleged victim's mother said she went to the school for help numerous times, but the abuse continued.
"We didn't ask for special treatment, just basic protection," Hinton said. "But even that was too much to expect for a Black child in a white school."
Hinton's lawyers say she filed a police report against two of the teachers named in the lawsuit.
She has not decided where her daughter will go to school next year for 8th grade.
Her attorneys are asking for training for the students at Wildwood school, and they want CPS to establish an office to investigate bullying.