Lawsuit: Racial Bullying Led To Student's Suicide Attempt

ORLEANS – A lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court alleges that a student was driven to attempt suicide because of racial bullying he experienced while attending Nauset Regional Middle School.

 The lawsuit by the nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights was filed Sept. 8 on behalf of Damion Walker and his son, who is not identified by name in the suit. The Nauset Regional School District, the Nauset regional school committee, Nauset Regional Middle School Principal Peter Cohen and the school’s assistant principals, Brett Costello and Michael Ciliberto, are all named as defendants in the suit.

The suit alleges that the student, who is Black, was the subject of physical and verbal bullying by white students. It is alleged that school and district officials failed to properly address the alleged bullying, even when it was brought to the attention of administrators by staff at the school.

 “This case is about a school district that knew a Black child was being racially tormented by his white classmates—called the N-word, called a ‘slave monkey,’ and subjected to whipping gestures—and failed, again and again, to protect him,” according to the suit.

 In a press release, Lawyers for Civil Rights stated that middle school staff told administrators that the student was being “targeted because of his race.” The release also stated that a behavioral assessment of the student that was ordered by the school found that peer students were the source of the bullying, not the student, but that middle school staff “scrutinized” and “punished” the student by removing him from his classes “as though he were the offender.”

 The bullying allegedly led the student to attempt suicide by ingesting 30 pills, according to the suit. The student also allegedly told hospital staff that bullying was “100 percent the reason” behind the attempt.

 “No parent should have to watch their child go through what my son went through,” Walker said in the press release. “When we send our kids to school, we should have confidence they are being cared for. But my son nearly died because of Nauset’s failure to protect him from extreme racism, and they must be held accountable.”

 The Chronicle first reported on the allegations made in the lawsuit in January 2025. At the time, Cohen and former Nauset Superintendent Brooke Clenchy acknowledged the incident and others. They said that protocols that have since been put in place at the middle school have  helped curb the number of reported bullying incidents in the school.

 “The Nauset Public Schools strive to foster an inclusive environment for all students and are committed to maintaining a school setting that is free from all forms of harassment and discrimination,” Nauset Superintendent Glenn Brand said in a statement Thursday. “While the District takes this matter very seriously, student confidentiality laws prevent me from commenting on specific student matters.”