Second suit targets Clark County trustee’s husband, a teacher
A second lawsuit has been filed against the teacher-husband of the Clark County School Board president, alleging that his physical abuse and bullying in the classroom traumatized a 10-year-old student and caused him to contemplate suicide.
The complaint filed in District Court on Monday by the student’s mother, Jessica McCray, alleges that Jason Wright overturned a desk that traveled 12 feet and hit her child’s leg at Harris Elementary in October 2017 after losing his temper. The desk injured the student, identified only by the initials R.S., it said.
“Wright did not report the desk-throwing incident or R.S.’s injuries to (the Clark County School District),” the complaint said. “R.S. asked to go to the nurse’s office and Wright refused to allow R.S. to seek treatment.”
Administrators at the Las Vegas school promised McCray that her child’s injuries would be investigated, “but upon information and belief such investigation either never occurred or was swept under the rug,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit further claims that Wright would verbally abuse and demean his class throughout the 2017-18 school year, to the point that the child had suicidal thoughts and, at one point, entered into a suicide pact with a fellow student.
“Wright’s class became an environment of teacher-on-student bullying, and which behavior was outside all possible bounds of all decency,” the lawsuit states.
“R.S. renounced the suicide pact with the other Harris student and brought the suicide issue to Harris’s CCSD administration,” the complaint states. “CCSD began to investigate the two fifth-graders’ suicide pact, but … such investigation with respect to Wright’s involvement either never occurred or was swept under the rug.”
Reached by phone on Wednesday, Jason Wright declined to comment. Deanna Wright did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The lawsuit, which also lists the school district as a defendant, seeks over $50,000 in damages.
Superintendent Jesus Jara also declined to comment.
A statement from McCray’s lawyer, Jason Close, said the family resorted to civil litigation after feeling abandoned by district authorities.
“R.S.’s family would like you to know they are deeply disturbed by Wright’s and CCSD’s alleged acts against their child and other students, and by the alleged lack of meaningful investigation and accountability following those acts,” Close said in a statement.
It is the second lawsuit against Jason Wright and the district alleging he abused a student.
Another complaint, filed in District Court last month, alleges that Wright kicked another Harris Elementary student’s hand and shook him by the front of his collar, causing physical and emotional injury.
The lawsuits come after the district hired an outside investigator to determine whether the district followed proper procedure in hiring Wright, who went through an alternative-teacher preparation program.
Documents obtained by the Review-Journal show that human resources staff planned to recommend his rejection from the program — which upon completion culminates in a teaching job with the district — but former Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky overrode the decision and allowed him into the program.
Wright has since been reassigned to Nate Mack Elementary School in Henderson, according to the district.
Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.