By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun
Three young educators at a Denver school for kids with severe behavioral issues were routinely sexually assaulted by students and ignored by administrators when they sought help, according to a new lawsuit.
The three women, recent college graduates who were passionate about working with children with special needs, said that for months they endured being groped, grabbed and choked at The Laradon School, a nonprofit with about 70 students in north Denver.
Victoria Schmidt, a paraprofessional hired in 2021, was repeatedly assaulted by a 13-year-old boy in her classroom, including the day he grabbed her in a hallway, placed her in a chokehold so tight that she feared she would die, and stuck his hand “deep inside her pants and underwear,” according to the lawsuit filed this week in Denver District Court.