Mount Prospect family files suit against son's alleged bully, school
MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. (WLS) -- A Mount Prospect family is going to court in a legal battle with an alleged bully at their son's school.
The family claims that their son, a fourth grader at suburban Robert Frost Elementary, has suffered serious and permanent injuries at the hands of his classmate.
"He would wake up at night screaming and crying," said Deveri Del Core, the boy's mother.
Her son, Joaquin Del Core, was an eager student, until this past year, when his parents say a fellow fourth grader started to bully him on a consistent basis.
"It escalated in events," Deveri Del Core said. "Threats on my son's life. Spitting, hitting, kicking."
"He became consumed more with fear than an eagerness and a want to learn," said Matthew Del Core, Joaquin's father.
After what they said were numerous failed attempts to get the school to intervene, the Del Cores began filing police reports to document the bullying, including one for battery. But they said nothing changed.
This week the Del Cores filed a lawsuit against the child accused of bullying their son, the child's parents and the school district for failing to provide adequate security for their son.
"One time he was choking him and told him he was going to go home and get a knife and come back and stab him 'till he was dead," Deveri Del Core said.
The lawsuit documents 12 separate instances of bullying against Joaquin. The Del Cores' hope is the suit, which seeks compensatory damages, also serves to change schools' policies with respect to bullying.
"School must be a positive, and it must be an environment which promotes growth," Matthew Del Core said. "Things like this get in the way, and they have to be stopped at a young age."
Joaquin's mother, an employee in the school cafeteria, was fired the day after the lawsuit was filed. The school district would not comment on the firing, but have said they value the safety and security of their students and take bullying prevention very seriously.
