(WXYZ) – A former teacher at Orchard Lake Schools St. Mary’s Preparatory High School is suing the school for wrongful dismissal.
The suit alleges that he was fired after reporting an incident in which a student was sexually assaulted by a group of students.
The school says in a statement, they do not believe they have done anything wrong.
That’s exactly why attorney Robert Palmer says his clients, the professor and the student, decided that they needed to file a lawsuit.
In 2019, some of the students at St. Mary’s Prep reportedly played in the shared showers they called “Naked Bowling” and “Stanky Pretzel”, where a student sits naked in the face of another student.
According to a lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Palmer, his client, a novice at the time of the incident did not like these games.
The junior was the first of his class, at the National Honor’s Society, and one of the 3 juniors invited to a school retreat with about 30 senior students, according to the process.
One night at that school retreat, court documents say that about 8 boys wearing towels came into his room, took him by the arms and legs “simultaneously trying to undress him and drag him into the hall”.
“And I wanted to drag him to the bathroom, where they put soap and water on the floor and intended to throw naked bodies against each other in ‘naked bowls’ with all parts of his anatomy playing very disgusting things,” says lawyer Robert Palmer.
The day after the incident, the students allegedly joked that they were going to “catch him” that night.
“He was approached by the escort who said that if you don’t want to participate, you can lock the door tonight,” said Palmer, pointing out that the escorts knew what was going on.
That night, court documents say, the student locked the door and locked it with a chair, and yet the students were “knocking on the door and trying to get into his room”.
After the retreat, the student told Donald Ambrose, a professor at St. Mary’s for over 20 years.
Ambrose went to the school principal Bob Pyles to report the behavior. Pyles, according to court documents, allegedly said “the severity of the sexual assault on March 20, 2019, ranked around” 5 “on a scale of 1 to 10.”
Ambrose then went to Reverend Krol, chancellor of the schools in Orchard Lake, to report the incident.
9 days later he was fired.
The suit says Ambrose was told he was being fired for not responding to e-mails promptly and for an incident 2 months earlier, when he arrested a student for cursing in class, an incident for which he had not been reprimanded before. the day he was fired, the lawsuit alleges.
Now Ambrose is suing the School for “illegal retaliation and deliberate indifference”.
The student never went back to school and instead chose to study at home in the last year. The student is also suing the school.
“We are not trying to bring down the school, I am sure it is a wonderful school. We want to see a change and see the school accountable, ”says Palmer.
“While it is inappropriate to comment on the dismissal of any employee, there are several false claims made in this process. We intend to present the truth in court.
In a statement, Stephen Gross, chairman of the Orchard Lake School Board of Regents, states:
While it is inappropriate to comment on the dismissal of any employee, there are several false claims made in this process. We intend to present the truth in court.
Management conducted an investigation immediately after becoming aware of these charges, which was overseen by a member of our board. We are confident that, once this information is made public, it will prove that the school has acted in an entirely appropriate manner.
The safety of each student is our highest priority at Orchard Lake schools. We take any allegation of unsafe behavior or misconduct seriously and do not tolerate any behavior that endangers the health and safety of any student.
Stephen Gross, chairman of the Board of Regents, Orchard Lake Schools