(ABC 6 News) – Nearly two years ago, ABC 6 News spoke with a Wabasha parent named Angie about an explicit photo of her child that was shared among the student body with few consequences for the bully in question.

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Late last week, that same family, led by mother Angie, filed a federal suit against the Wabasha-Kellogg school district, claiming the district has “maintained a culture which allowed sexual bullying and sexual harassment to persist in its schools.”

The suit also claims Wabasha-Kellogg failed to keep records of violence and harassment between students.

The suit points out that Wabasha-Kellogg engendered enough harassment that a current school board member, Brittney Ender, successfully ran on a campaign promising to curb the bullying.

ABC 6 News reached out to Ender, who refused to comment, stating that Supt. Nels Onstad had instructed the elected officials making up the school board not to speak to the media.

ABC 6 News reminded Ender that as a member of the school board, she was appointed by the greater Wabasha-Kellogg community, and is not employed by the school district.

Ender again declined to comment.

ABC 6 News reached out to Onstad and the remaining members of the school board for comments on the allegations in federal suit and Onstad’s perceived authority over the board.

“The District cannot comment specifically on any allegations made by a family given its data privacy obligations under state and federal law, but the District’s top priority is student safety, and the District works proactively to ensure compliance with District policies and law,” Onstad said in an email.

One Wabasha family’s case

The Wabasha family who filed the federal suit detail, in the complaint, years of assaults and harassment against one of their children, stemming from another student.

Between 2021 and 2023, the perpetrator allegedly physically assaulted the child, called him slurs and swear words, and sexually harassed him.

The civil suit alleges that then-Wabasha Principal Stacy Schultz and Wabasha Police Department School Liaison Officer Rob Venz witnessed at least one assault, but neither intervened nor recorded the incident.

Angie called the school, at which point SRO Venz allegedly called her back to make the school’s initial report about the incident.

Later, the same perpetrator allegedly took an explicit photo of the student, then shared it with others in the cafeteria.

Then-superintendent Jim Freihammer eventually suspended the perpetrator for five days.

In early 2023, Angie told ABC 6 News that the punishment wasn’t enough.

“Where’s his justice? This is telling kids it’s okay to go take a picture and it’s okay to airdrop pictures in school. It’s okay to bully somebody for two weeks, bully somebody for years, and you’ll get a couple of days of vacation cause that’s exactly what Jim gave this kid — five days of vacation,” Angie said.

According to the federal suit, the punishment resulted in additional harassment for Angie’s child, with little or no intervention by adults.

Eventually, Angie’s child left the school.

History of harassment

Angie’s child may not have been the first child harassed at Wabasha-Kellogg by the perpetrator detailed in the federal complaint.

The complaint also lists an alleged history of assault and harassment by the perpetrator, including calling other students slurs, physically and sexually assaulting them, and making threats of violence–including threatening to bring a gun to school.

The complaint alleges that a female student obtained a harassment restraining order against him in the fall of 2023.

However, the complaint claims that Wabasha-Kellogg discarded reports of harassment and bullying at the end of each school year — making it impossible to track the perpetrator’s history of harassing and assaultive behavior from school year to school year.

The federal complaint details four counts upon which the Wabasha family requests financial compensation: Sexual harassment in violation of Title IX, sexual harassment in violation of the MN Human Rights Act, denial of equal protection and due process in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and negligence.

The complaint requests up to $75,000 in damages for each count.

ABC 6 News will follow this story in federal court.