Spartanburg School District 2 facing federal lawsuit

SPARTANBURG CO., S.C. (WSPA) – Spartanburg School District 2 is facing two federal lawsuits.

The lawsuits were filed by the same plaintiffs, who had been suing the district in state court since 2020 through 2022. They were filed on July 1.

The lawsuit claims students were bullied and harassed at Shoally Creek Elementary School, and that the District’s policies and practices allowed the bullying to be tolerated.

In May, a school board member asked Superintendent, Lance Radford, to step down, claiming the board was unaware of the allegations regarding the school.

Tyler Rody, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the actions of District 2 violates constitutional rights.

“The school district’s and administrators’ actions violated my clients’ constitutional rights,” Rody said. “They increased the risk of my clients being assaulted and had deliberately indifferent responses to known sexual assaults that happened under their watch. The Constitution protects us from the government and Section 1983 allows us to enforce our constitutional rights, and we have chosen to do so with the federal lawsuits.”

7News reached out to Spartanburg School District 2 and have not heard back. We will update with a statement if received later on.

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