(WXYZ) – A former teacher at Orchard Lake Schools St. Mary’s Preparatory High School is suing the school for wrongful termination.
The lawsuit alleges that he was fired after reporting an incident where a student was sexually assaulted by a group of college students.
The school says in a statement that they do not believe they have done anything wrong.
That’s exactly why attorney Robert Palmer says his clients, the teacher and the student, decided they should sue.
In 2019, some St. Mary’s Prep students reportedly played games in the shared showers they called “Naked Bowling” and “Stanky Pretzel,” where a student sits naked on the face of another student.
According to a lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Palmer, his client, a junior did not like those games at the time of the incident.
The junior was the best in his class, in the National Honor’s Society, and one of three juniors who, according to the lawsuit, had been invited to a school retreat with about 30 seniors.
One night during that school retreat, court documents say that about 8 boys with towels entered his room, picked him up by the arms and legs “while at the same time trying to undress and drag him into the hallway.”
“And wanted to drag him to the shower room, where they had put soap and water on the floor and planned to throw naked bodies together in ‘naked bowling,’ with all parts of their anatomy touching pretty gross things,” says lawyer. Robert Palmer.
The day after this incident, students reportedly joked that they would ‘catch’ him that night.
“He was approached by the chaperone who said if you don’t want to join, you can lock your door tonight,” said Palmer, pointing out that the escorts knew what was going on.
According to court documents, the student locked his door that night and blocked it with a chair, and still students “banged on his door and tried to break into his room”.
After the retreat, the student told Donald Ambrose, a teacher at St. Mary’s for over 20 years.
Ambrose went to headmaster Bob Pyles to report the behavior. Pyles allegedly said “the severity of the March 20, 2019 sexual assault, ranked about a” 5 “on a scale of 1 to 10.”
Ambrose then went to Orchard Lake School’s Chancellor Reverend Krol to report the incident.
He was fired 9 days later.
The lawsuit says Ambrose was told he was fired for not immediately responding to emails and for an incident two months earlier when he arrested a student for swearing in class, an incident for which he had not been reprimanded before the day he was fired. lawsuit alleges.
Now Ambrose is suing the School for “unlawful retaliation and willful indifference”.
The student never returned to school and instead chose his senior year of homeschooling. The student also sues the school.
‘We don’t plan on dropping the school, I’m sure it’s a great school. We want to see change and we want the school to be held accountable, ”says Palmer.
“While it would be inappropriate to comment on an employee’s dismissal, several false allegations are made in this lawsuit. We intend to present the truth in court.
In a statement, Stephen Gross, the Chair of the Orchard Lake Schools Board of Regents, said:
While it would be inappropriate to comment on an employee’s dismissal, multiple false allegations are made in this lawsuit. We intend to present the truth in court.
Immediately upon learning of these allegations, the administration conducted an investigation, overseen by a member of our Board. We are confident that once this information is made public it will prove that the school acted in a fully appropriate manner.
Every student’s safety is our top priority at Orchard Lake Schools. We take any allegation of unsafe behavior or misconduct seriously and will not tolerate behavior that endangers a student’s health and safety.
Stephen Gross, Chairman of the Board of Regents, Orchard Lake Schools