Parents of Bernalillo High School student says principal concealed peer bullying

BERNALILLO — The parents of a former Bernalillo High School student are suing Bernalillo Public Schools and the school board, alleging the school’s principal and the district did not stop and later covered up persistent peer bullying against their daughter, who once suffered a concussion.

Richard and Valerie Ortiz filed a lawsuit in the 13th Judicial District Court of Sandoval County in February 2024 on behalf of their daughter, known in court filings as V.O., following alleged bullying leading up to an attack against the girl at the high school in October 2023.

The Ortizes are suing the district for negligent maintenance and operation of a building; violations of the due process and equal protection clauses of the New Mexico Constitution; and damages at unspecified amounts.

The case is set to go to a hearing before a judge on July 16 and a jury a week later, court records show. BPS, which has denied many of the lawsuit’s allegations, hopes to convince Judge Allison Martinez that the case should be dismissed with prejudice and the Ortizes’ request for damages stemming from their daughter’s emotional distress should not be part of the case. The district is also asking Martinez to strike certain evidence from being considered if the case goes to trial.

The Ortizes’ complaint centers on Oct. 11, 2023, when their 15-year-old daughter was allegedly assaulted by another female student, known in the filing as A.B., who grabbed her by the hair, pulled her down to the ground, and repeatedly punched her in the head before she lost consciousness. BHS employees did nothing to intervene, the complaint stated, but another student, known as D.M., tried to prevent the attack. That’s when another student, 18-year-old Angel Rodriguez, allegedly tried to stop D.M. from intervening.

The complaint does not state how the assault ended, but the Ortizes’ daughter was sent to Sandoval County Regional Medical Center with a concussion, head and neck injuries, and “numerous other psychological and emotional injuries,” the filing stated.

A school resource officer issued a report of the assault, but BHS Principal Alyssa Sanchez-Padilla allegedly tried to convince the officer to exclude information about past instances of bullying or her knowledge about them.

Text messages show A.B. and Rodriguez “relentlessly stalked, harassed and threatened” the Ortizes’ daughter with physical violence.

The Ortizes stated that they warned Sanchez-Padilla about the students’ behavior and provided the text messages to her in the weeks leading up to the attack, but she allegedly failed to inform a school resource officer or any other members of law enforcement about the bullying, the filing read. Sanchez-Padilla, did, however, tell V.O. to walk with male BHS athletes for protection, according to the filing.

In March 2024, the district responded to the Ortizes’ lawsuit by denying most of their claims, except it admitted that Sanchez-Padilla was notified by the student’s mother of bullying on social media and provided text messages of it.

The district motioned for dismissal of the case in February, and it was denied by Martinez June 25 following a hearing.