‘It was racially motivated’: Mom suing Rockford Christian Schools over alleged bullying speaks out

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) – The former Rockford-area attorney who brought a federal lawsuit against Rockford Christian Schools earlier this year spoke out about the case Monday.

Jenna Ewing, who recently moved to Florida, is an attorney for Chicago-based Levin & Perconti, filed the complaint after a male student started bullying her then-eighth-grade daughter just days after the 2022-23 school year began.

“It was racially motivated from the beginning,” Ewing said. “I really tried to use the channels of the school to address it. And it’s another child, so I’m not to make too much out of it. I want the adults to get in the room and handle some of this.”

Ewing said the bullying began Aug. 21, 2022, when the male student used repeated racial slurs directed at Ewing’s daughter, who is bi-racial, in the hallways of the school.

She said officials did not punish the student for the Aug. 21 incident and that the bullying intensified.

“About two weeks into school, she was at a football game, when the boy hit her and was using the same terminology,” she said.

Ewing said a subsequent incident, during which the same student threw a banana at her daughter, was the last straw. She pulled her daughter from Rockford Christian and moved forward with the complaint.

“I believe it was some time in the fall that I was told that if there was one more incident, it would be considered bullying and that they are a zero-tolerance bullying school,” she said. “I remember laughing, saying it must be a three-tolerance school if you have until three incidents.”

The parents of the student accused of harassing Ewing’s daughter are also named in the complaint, something legal experts say is becoming more common in American civil and criminal courts.

“You’re responsible for your children’s actions, just as if your child threw a baseball through someone’s car window, you would be responsible,” said Rockford attorney Ela Bucko, who is not connected to Ewing’s case. “The same thing goes for their actions. If it’s not a monetary, normal amount you can get a quote for, a jury then decides what you should pay and why.”

Ewing is represented by Christina Abraham, of Abraham Law & Consulting, of Chicago.

“When they failed my daughter like they did, they deserved to be called out,” she said.

Rockford Christian Schools is a private, nondenominational Christian school that was founded in 1961. It is governed by a nine-member board. According to a policy posted on its website, “Rockford Christian School does not discriminate on its admission of students on the basis of sex, race, or religion.”

Eyewitness News spoke to the school Monday, however, officials declined the opportunity to comment. Future court dates in the case are pending.

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