The News

A group of parents are suing an Ohio school district after a female student allegedly suffered ‘severe emotional trauma’ by teachers accused of pressuring her to identify as male.

The parents filed a lawsuit against Hilliard City Schools in January last year in a bid to prohibit educators from discussing sexual matters with students. The suit also aimed to ban teachers from wearing badges issuing support of LGBTQ students.

In an amended suit filed this month, the parents accused school officials of forcing a female student to adopt ‘a new name and identity as the opposite sex’.

School officials ‘treated the child as the opposite sex’ without parental consent after allegedly ‘diagnosing’ the girl with gender dysphoria, according to the complaint obtained by DailyMail.com.

Her parents were not privy to the district’s diagnosis and, according to the suit, the student’s ‘condition spiraled out of control’ after the family was made aware of the situation when a postcard using the child’s male name and pronouns arrived at the home.

The parents allege the district’s actions caused the student to take self-harming actions and resulted in a suicide attempt at school, the filing claims. 

A group of parents filed a lawsuit against Hilliard City Schools in January last year in a bid to prohibit educators from discussing sexual matters with students. They have since filed an amendment to the complaint, alleging a female student allegedly suffered ‘severe emotional trauma’ by teachers accused of pressuring her to identify as male. Pictured is the school’s board in 2022

In the complaint, which lists the school board and its members as defendants, the parents accused school officials of deceiving them about the girl’s alleged-condition.

They claim that although they referred to the student using their ‘opposite-sex name’ while in school, teachers used pronounced consistent with their ‘biological sex’ in the presence of the parents.

‘The district’s acts were reckless because district officials are not qualified – and are specifically denied entitlement to – make diagnoses and treatment decisions for somebody else’s child,’ the amended complaint filed on April 1 states.

The parents cited the student’s experience as one of several reasons they are concerned the district is ‘hiding their child’s gender dysphoria from them’.

The suit questions if school officials would ‘affirmatively deceive parents’ if the guardians are not identified as a ‘safe person’ or supporter of the LGBTQ community.

‘”Support” for ‘[LGBTQ+] youth or issues’ is a matter of personal opinion,’ the parents state. ‘Thus, a district official’s opinion of whether a parent is a “safe person” could arise from judgments related to a parent’s constitutionally-protected practices, such as practicing certain religions, expressing certain political views.’ 

President of the school board Brian Perry

VP Kara Crowley of the school board and member Zach Vorst

The district, in a response to the compliant filed on Monday, denied nearly all of the allegations and said the ‘alleged damages, if any, were proximately caused by the sole or contributory or comparative negligence of the plaintiffs.’

Hilliard City Schools stated the district ‘acted reasonably, in good faith, upon advice of counsel, in accordance with law and/or in the exercise of their statutory duties and responsibilities,’ according to the filing. 

The district’s response also said the claim made by the parents is outside the statute of limitations.

The parents’ amended claim does not identify when the alleged suicide attempt occurred of what school the student attended. 

It does state, however, that through ‘professional therapy and counseling’ it was determined that the student’s ‘problems were not gender dysphoria.’

The suit also aimed to ban teachers from wearing badges issuing support of LGBTQ students

Hilliard City Schools, in a statement to NBC 4, said the substance of the complaint remains the same as the version originally filed in January 2023.

The district reiterated its position on the suit has not changed and that its motion to dismiss remains applicable. The district is still waiting for a ruling on the motion.

At the time of the original filing, the district said the lawsuit contained ‘thread-bare assertions, innuendo, rumor, and spurious legal conclusions’. 

Superintendent David Stewart added it was ‘filled with misstatements of fact and mischaracterizations.’

DailyMail.com has approached the district and school board for comment. 

For confidential help or support, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A local police department has a new team member to offer emotional support to the community.

Meet Griffin. He’s a therapy K-9 at the University of South Dakota. He’s a seven-month-old corgi. Standing at 11 inches tall and weighing in at 19 pounds, he’s ready to give his love and support to those who need it.

More than 70 donors contributed $1,700 dollars to USD’s police department, so they could start this program.

Not only will Griffin report for duty at various outreach events, he’ll also be on standby to offer support to victims of crime as they navigate the legal process.

Rex Heuermann’s lawyer is attempting to shift the blame for the Gilgo Beach murders on to the corrupt former police chief who was previously in charge of the case. 

Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing Wednesday morning, attorney Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke is ‘involved’ in the sordid affair. 

‘We received approximately almost 3,000 leads on this case,’ he told reporters outside Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead. 

‘There were numerous leads that came into the Suffolk County Police Department, suggesting that Chief Burke was involved in this.’ 

Burke allegedly led a double life involving crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes. He is serving jail time after being convicted of several offences including assault, public lewdness and unlawful solicitation after flashing in a park. 

Heuermann, 60, has spent most of his days since his July 2023 arrest in a small windowless cell at the Riverhead Jail as he awaits trial. (Pictured: Heuermann in court Wednesday)

Pictured: Former Suffolk County police chief James Burke (center) is escorted to a vehicle by FBI personnel outside the FBI office in Melville, New York on December 9, 2015

His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup (pictured) was also spotted pulling up in a black Mercedes outside the Long Island courthouse

Speaking about the former cop’s involvement with the Gilgo Beach murders case, Brown said: ‘Chief Burke would not let the FBI in to the investigation back then, with their expertise.

‘It’s problematic for us that the chief of police who was running the investigation had this very checkered past and was involved in criminal activity.

‘He recently served a four or four-and-a-half year prison sentence in the federal system.

‘Just recently he was arrested on some allegation of being very deviant sexually. We want to see those records.’

Brown’s comments came after his client, Heuermann, appeared in court wearing a black suit, white shirt and navy blue tie on Wednesday morning. 

He listened intently to the hearing, which centered around troves of potential evidence seized from various devices related to the case. 

The 60-year-old father-of-two is charged with murdering four female sex workers whose bodies were found buried on a remote stretch of Gilgo Beach more than 10 years ago. 

His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, was also spotted pulling up in a black Mercedes outside the Long Island courthouse. 

The 60-year-old father-of-two is charged with murdering four female sex workers whose bodies were found on Gilgo Beach more than 10 years ago

Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann, right, appears in Judge Tim Mazzei’s courtroom next to his attorney Michael Brown at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Wednesday

Asa Ellerup, left, the estranged wife of Long Island serial killing suspect Rex Heuermann, arrives at court in Riverhead, N.Y. on Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Ellerup, left, who also shares two children with Heuermann, filed for divorce six days after he was charged with the first three murders

Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing Wednesday morning, attorney Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke (pictured in August 2023) is ‘involved’ in the case

It comes just weeks after she claimed her partner of 27 years is ‘not capable’ of murdering the four women. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

Ellerup, who also shares two children with Heuermann, filed for divorce six days after he was charged with the first three murders. 

But she still visits him in jail because she believes he ‘deserves the benefit of the doubt’ and attends his hearings with a documentary camera crew. 

Ellerup reportedly signed a controversial seven-figure deal with NBC Universal, Texas Crew Productions and G-Unit to feature in a series about the case. 

During Wednesday’s hearing, attorneys discussed troves of potential evidence held on hundreds of devices. The judge said he wanted the discovery phase of the case to by completed by July. 

Suffolk DA Ray Tierney said prosecutors have ‘a tremendous amount of material’ to contend with.

‘When you are talking about terabytes upon terabytes upon terabytes on information – it doesn’t happen overnight,’ he told reporters outside court.  

Heuermann last appeared in court early February for an update on the progress of his case, during which he stayed silent.

He was brought into a silent Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, Long Island, New York, for a procedural hearing not attended by Ellerup. 

It marked the first time the architect had appeared in court since January 16, when he pleaded not guilty to killing Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, in 2007.

Pictured: Asa Ellerup in court on Wednesday ahead of Heuermann’s latest hearing 

The alleged victims known as the ‘Gilgo four’ – Maureen Brainard-Barnes; Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Megan Waterman, 22; and Melissa Barthelemy, 24

Heuermann was earlier charged with three counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello in 2010. 

He has spent most of his days since his July 2023 arrest in a small windowless cell at the Riverhead Jail as he awaits trial. 

His attorney earlier revealed to DailyMail.com that the accused murderer was still being held in solitary confinement and was ‘lonely and depressed’. 

Officials at the high-security New York prison said he has been isolated because he would otherwise be a ‘major target’ for inmates.

‘We have very good information that he would be a target of violence if he was not in a secure location,’ Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. told Newsday previously. 

‘There was an individual that did say if he was able to get into close contact with him, ‘I’m going to do something.’ 

Alleged victims Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27 went missing between 2007 and 2010.

They were all sex workers who advertised their services on Craigslist and Backstory The women were found tied up in burlap sacks within a few miles of each other.  

Long Island architect Heuermann was arrested outside his Manhattan office last year after DNA evidence linked him to their disappearances.

‘I was gradually getting frozen up, and by the grace of God I came across a lifeboat and they pulled me in.’

Those were the words of Titanic survivor Frank Prentice, speaking 67 years after the ship sank on this day in April 1912 with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.  

Mr Prentice, then just 23, was serving as assistant purser on the ship when it fatefully hit an iceberg. 

He told BBC documentary series The Great Liners in 1979: ‘There was no impact as such.

‘It was just like jamming your brakes on the car and that was that – she stopped. 

‘We had a porthole open and I looked out and the sky was clear, stars were shining, the sea was dead calm and I thought, I couldn’t understand it.’

‘I was gradually getting frozen up, and by the grace of God I came across a lifeboat and they pulled me in.’ Those were the words of Titanic survivor Frank Prentice, speaking 67 years after the ship sank on this day in April 1912 with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912. The vessel was sailing to New York on its maiden voyage

After the Titanic hit the iceberg, Mr Prentice left his cabin to investigate.

But there was no sign of damage because the point of impact had been below the waterline. 

Unbeknown to him, the ship was catastrophically crippled and sank within three hours of the collision.

Despite an order for women and children to get into the lifeboats, many were reluctant because of the 70foot drop into the water and their faith in the ship’s status as an ‘unsinkable’ vessel.

As a result, many more people lost their lives than if all 16 lifeboats had been filled to capacity.

Mr Prentice said: ‘Don’t forget we had 16 lifeboats and they each carried 50, and if they’d been filled we could’ve saved 800 whereas we only saved 500.’

Describing the moment the Titanic broke in two, he added: ‘All of a sudden, she lifted up quickly and you could hear everything crashing through her.’

The caption of the Titanic, Edward Smith (pictured) tragically died the night the Titanic went down

The ship tragically sank within three hours of the collision. Pictured: American passenger businessman Benjamin Guggenheim whose body was never found

As half of the ship rose out of the water, Mr Prentice was clinging on to a board. He realised that he had no option but to let go and plunge into the freezing water.

‘I had a lifebelt on and I hit the water with a terrific crack,’ he said. As bodies floated ‘all over the place’, Mr Prentice watched the ship disappear beneath the water.

Mr Prentice escaped death when he was pulled from the water into a lifeboat. 

He found himself sat next to Virginia Estelle Clark, who he had helped with her lifejacket on deck. 

Newly-married Ms Clark, who was on her honeymoon, had been persauded by Mr Prentice to leave her new husband Walter behind and get into a lifeboat. 

Ms Clark had asked Mr Prentice if he had seen her husband but it later emerged he had died.

Mr Prentice believed the woman had probably saved his life by wrapping a cloak around him.

‘I saved hers – I think I might have done, I think I did, and she saved mine,’ he said.

Along with the rest of the survivors, the pair were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, which was nearly 60 miles away when it picked up the Titanic’s distress call.

The survivors were carried to safety in New York, where an initial inquiry into the disaster was held. 

Mr Prentice escaped death when he was pulled from the water into a lifeboat

The RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time and is pictured setting off on its voyage in 1912

Mr Prentice died in 1982 at the age of 93. For the rest of his life he kept the watch he had been carrying on the day the Titanic sank.

It was frozen in time at 2.20am, the time it fell into the water. 

‘It was frozen up like I was – I think it lasted for about 20 minutes in the water,’ Mr Prentice said.

He admitted that giving an interview about his ordeal meant he would probably ‘have another nightmare’.

‘You’d think I’m too old for that, but you’d be amazed. You lie in bed at night and the whole thing comes round again,’ he added. 

DISASTER IN THE ATLANTIC: HOW MORE THAN 1,500 LOST THEIR LIVES WHEN THE TITANIC SANK

The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world were on board, including property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Constructed by Belfast-based shipbuilders Harland and Wolff between 1909 and 1912, the RMS Titanic was the largest ship of her time

Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to his family’s mining business, also perished, along with Isidor Straus, the German-born co-owner of Macy’s department store.

The ship was the largest afloat at the time and was designed in such a way that it was meant to be ‘unsinkable’.

It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first-class cabins.

There were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations.

After leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading to New York.

On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm local time.

James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him: ‘What do you see?’ The man responded: ‘Iceberg, dead ahead.’

By 2.20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it.

Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived nearly two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water.

It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor.