Jury sides with school system in suit accusing it of ignoring middle-schooler’s sex assault claims

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury has rejected a woman’s lawsuit seeking tens of millions of dollars against Virginia’s largest school system after she allged she was raped multiple times as a middle schooler. The woman sued Fairfax County Public Schools under Title IX, a law guaranteeing girls and women equal educational access. The lawsuit alleged school officials at a Reston middle school ignored her complaints that she was sexually assaulted as a seventh-grader inside and outside of the school in 2011 and 2012. Lawyers for the school system argued her claims were fabricated. The jury deliberated several hours Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday before rejecting her claims.