The Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice, through the 18th Private Law Chamber of the Court of Justice, ordered the American School of Rio, a director and a former teacher of the institution to pay compensation of R$30 thousand reais to a former student. The authorities understood that the student was a victim of cyberbullying.
The decision extends to the former student’s father and mother who, according to the ruling, must each receive compensation of R$15,000. The institution can still appeal.
According to the lawsuit, another student, the son of one of the school’s teachers and a classmate of the victim, created an Instagram account using another classmate’s email address, but which was hosted on the school’s domain, i.e., which ended with: @earj.com.br.
The colleague then pretended to be the victim to threaten and offend several other students in the class with messages sent on social media.
After the insults in her name, the victim suffered several attacks and social exclusion in the school environment.
The defense claims that the incident had a very negative impact on the teenager’s social, personal and family life. The parents of the student attacked claimed in the lawsuit that the American School was negligent and handled the situation with disregard.
They also claimed that the institution’s director made the situation even worse by lying about the school’s stance and omitting relevant information.
The family members also highlighted that the teacher, mother of the student who created the Instagram account, took advantage of her authority as a teacher at the institution to embarrass the victim on several occasions. In addition, the parents claim in the lawsuit that the school refused to re-enroll the victim and her sister for the year 2021.
The judge and rapporteur of the case, Cláudio de Mello Tavares, stated, in the process, that the school did not adopt clear and effective measures to combat cyberbullying and there was also no reparation or mediation between those involved.
The judge highlighted that the institution claimed that what happened was a “joke between teenagers aiming to attract the attention of the girls in the class”.
The judge highlighted, in one of the sections of the ruling, “that the first author and his parents intended to promote a ‘lynching’ of the student who had committed the acts”.
For the judge, the conduct of the institution and the teacher during the process was intended to discredit what happened and deny the adoption of clear and effective measures to control the situation, discredit the complainants and accuse them of an alleged lynching attempt.
The school was approached by CNN but did not want to comment on the case.
This content was originally published in RJ Court sentences American School, director and former teacher for cyberbullying on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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