The parents of a bullied 13-year-old special needs boy who died two years after being left with permanent brain damage from a suicide atte...
The parents of a bullied 13-year-old special needs boy who died two years after being left with permanent brain damage from a suicide attempt will be paid $1.25 million by Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
Jamari Dent attempted to end his life after suffering relentless verbal and physical attacks from both students and teachers at two different public schools, his mother, Teirra Black, said in a 2019 federal lawsuit.
After the attempted suicide, Jamari was not able to walk or speak, and relied entirely on a ventilator to breathe. In June, he succumbed to health complications.
CPS agreed to the settlement out of court and will now have to pay $1.25 million to Jamari's family after the Board of Education approved the decision on Wednesday, WGNT reported.
Jamari Dent attempted to end his life after suffering relentless verbal and physical attacks from both students and teachers at two different schools, his mother, Teirra Black, said in a 2019 federal lawsuit
After the attempt, Jamari was left with permanent brain damage. He was not able to walk or speak, and relied entirely on a ventilator to breathe. In June, he succumbed to health complications
CPS agreed to the settlement out of court and will now have to pay $1.25million to Jamari's family after the Board of Education approved the decision on Wednesday
The suit argued that CPS administrators were negligent and failed to protect the fourth-grader from the staff and children at Medgar Evers and Carter Woodson elementary school over the span of a year.
Jamari was reportedly called 'stupid, 'dumb' and 'r*******', and teachers joked that he would end up at a facility with mental disabilities. A white teacher was accused of calling Jamari ' a dirty little n*****'.
'The CPS system has failed Jamari, and other special needs children like him, on a criminal level,' the family's attorney, Jon Erickson, said after Jamari died in June.
'And they will be held to account. This is the culmination of three years of horrific abuse, neglect and incompetence that resulted in an 11-year-old child feeling he had no option to relieve himself of the pain and cruelty he suffered at the hands of his teachers other than to take his own life,' he added.
After Jamari's death, Black had to pay hospital bills out of pocket, as insurance didn't cover expenses resulting from his suicide attempt.
In a picture shared by Black five months after Jamari's suicide attempt, the little boy could be seen lying in his hospital bed staring into space while surrounded by his family members and presents.
In February 2019, Jamari Dent, 11, tried to commit suicide by hanging (pictured left before the attempt) after being bullied. He was saved but suffered permanent brain damage
His mother, Teirra Black, has filed a lawsuit claiming that a teacher at Medgar Evers Elementary School allegedly called the boy 'dirty' and 'nappy-headed'
Black transferred Jamari to Carter Woodson Elementary, where she said the child was physically assaulted by three teachers on separate occasions
According to the lawsuit, Jamari had been subjected to bullying by students and teachers at the two schools.
The complaint, which named individual teachers as well as the Chicago Board of Education, claimed that Jamari was being called names like 'stupid,' 'dumb' and 'retarded.'
One time, a teacher at Evers Elementary allegedly called the boy 'dirty' and 'nappy-headed,' and asked him if his 'brillo hair was the reason he couldn't read,' drawing peals of laughter from his classmates, the lawsuit claimed.
In February 2019, Jamari tried to hang himself in his bedroom after suffering for more than a year at the hands of both his classmates and teachers.
Medics were able to save the boy's life, but his suicide attempt left him with permanent brain damage.
A 2019 photo shows Jamari laying in his hospital bed staring into space surrounded by family
The same teacher allegedly assaulted and injured Jamari in February 2018.
After that incident, Teirra Black transferred her son to Woodson Elementary, but she said the bullying continued there and reached new lows.
According to the lawsuit, three teachers at the school physically attacked Jamari and inflicted injuries on him on separate occasions.
Black said she repeatedly approached school administrators pleading for help, but they failed to stop the torment.
Then on February 18, 2019, her 11-year-old son used a sheet to hang himself. He was found in his bedroom by his nine-year-old sister.
Black performed CPR on Jamari for 10-15 minutes until paramedics arrived and took over.
Jamari's doctors then told Black that his 11-year-old son would remain on the ventilator for the rest of his life.
After Jamari's suicide attempt, the school district released a statement addressing the legal action.
'The district has no tolerance for adults who harm or fail to protect students,' it read in part. 'All allegations of bullying and student harm are taken seriously by the district, and we are fully committed to ensuring all students are supported and adults are held accountable,' the 2019 statement read.
Dent's mother said her son (pictured left and right before suicide attempt), who has learning disabilities, was relentlessly hounded by both classmates and teachers
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