Sibley, Iowa — The Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School District has now filed suit against the other named school districts in the civil case brought against the Sibley-Ocheyedan School District on behalf of a boy who was sexually abused by a former teacher at the Sibley-Ocheyedan Middle School.
The civil suit, originally filed in late April, 2017, alleges that the Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School District was negligent in hiring Kyle Ewinger, the former teacher and coach who pleaded guilty in February of this year to sexual abuse of a student, and that they knew or should have known that Ewinger posed a safety risk to the children entrusted to him.
The plaintiffs in the case — the boy and his mother — added other school districts to the suit — Districts at which Ewinger was previously employed — in September 2017. They alleged that these other districts were also negligent for withholding information about Ewinger to Sibley-Ocheyedan officials.
Now, the Sibley-Ocheyedan School District is ALSO suing the other districts in what is known as a cross-petition. The Mediapolis, Sioux City, and Akron-Westfield community school districts are named in the suit. Sibley-Ocheyedan’s attorneys say that in each of the other named districts, Ewinger was known to have exhibited behavior which should have been reported to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, the agency overseeing Iowa teachers, according to Iowa law. They say that the districts’ failure to disclose amounts to negligence to future employers, and if judgment against Sibley-Ocheyedan is ruled, that the other districts are liable.
The jury trial in the case is over a year away. It’s scheduled at this point to start April 14th, 2020.
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