The girl’s life was changed forever, she said, when the accused predator, a fellow student, allegedly sodomized her in a school bathroom.
“I just felt like I was set up by the teachers. They gave me a word that they couldn’t keep,” said the woman, who asked CNN to call her “Jaden.”
In 2010, Jaden’s father filed a lawsuit against Madison County Schools and its officials, and after years of legal battles, Jaden, now 19, will have her day in federal court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case.
“We look forward to discussing this case with the Judges who will be deciding it and ultimately letting a jury decide this matter,” said Eric Artrip, the attorney representing the girl and her father. “It has essentially devastated her life.”
Background
According to court records, a 16-year-old student approached Jaden in the hallway of Sparkman Middle School in Toney, Alabama, on January 22, 2010, and asked her to meet him in a bathroom for sex.
It was not the first time the boy had propositioned her, said Jaden, who was enrolled in the school’s special education program.
–
On the same day the federal brief was submitted, the Women’s Law Project, joined by 32 national and local organizations, submitted a brief supporting the family’s lawsuit. The National Women’s Law Center and Artrip, the family’s attorney, have also submitted a brief to the Eleventh Circuit.
“It means a lot. It says that people actually care about what happens,” Jaden told CNN
Months after the incident, the teen transferred to a school district out of state, but eventually dropped out of school before graduating. Jaden continues to struggle, she said.
“It’s hard for me to have good days,” she told CNN. “I have days to where I just want to sit there by myself. I get angry faster, and I get insecure.”
Asked what might help her, she stressed the importance of justice and closure.
“By actually having our day in court and letting everything be known, so that it won’t happen again,” Jaden said.
A date for her case has not yet been set, but the court will likely hear oral arguments within three to five months, according the clerk’s office.