Harassed Girl Wins $500,000 In California

A 14-year-old girl won a $500,000 award from a jury that found school officials ignored her complaints of harassment from a male sixth-grade classmate.

The girl, then 11, said she was subjected to an almost daily barrage of vulgarities, lewd insults and threats to beat her up and even kill her. Family members said the boy would often grab his crotch and ask her why her breasts were not larger.

“It’s not a little boy kissing a little girl on the cheek. This was outrageous harassment,” the girl’s lawyer, Sandra Springs, said Wednesday. She asked that the girl’s name not be used.

The jury Tuesday ordered the district to pay 93.4 percent of the $500,000. The boy’s family must pay $27,000 of the total, and the girl’s former principal is responsible for $6,000.

Officials of the Antioch Unified School District - about 45 miles east of San Francisco - said Wednesday they may appeal the decision or call for a new trial.