Judge rules in favor of Rio Rancho schools to dismiss student bullying case

RIO RANCHO — A local judge recently ruled in favor of the Rio Rancho School District’s request to dismiss a parent’s lawsuit alleging that school officials failed to protect her son from bullying at Cleveland High School, leading to a suicide attempt.

Sandoval County District Court Judge James Noel granted summary judgment to RRPS on June 10, following a May 29 hearing on arguments in the case filed by Julie Parolini on behalf of her son, referred to in court documents as J.P., in December 2022.

“Based on the undisputed material facts, no reasonable jury could find that the defendant breached their duty to protect J.P. from taunting by other students,” Noel wrote in his order.

Parolini asked for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interest and any other relief determined by the court in response to her accusations the school improperly handled her son’s bullying, which she claimed stemmed from a rape accusation against him made by other students.

In her initial court filing, Parolini claimed that once she learned of the alleged bullying in August 2021 and the rape accusation the following month, she reported it to high school officials. A police officer assigned to the school investigated and concluded “the allegations against J.P. were completely false” and forwarded his report to the student’s counselor, Parolini’s filing said.

But following the investigation, Parolini claimed her son continued to be bullied and emailed a complaint to Assistant Principal Rudy Galindo, who met with J.P. in October 2021, the filing said. J.P. reportedly told Galindo the bullying had gotten “only slightly better,” and the assistant principal told the student to return to his office in a few weeks to give him an update, according to the filing.

Parolini claims in the filing that she followed up with Galindo following the meeting but never heard back from him, even as her son was contemplating suicide.

She reportedly emailed members of the RRPS Board of Education and Superintendent Sue Cleveland but received no response in the run-up to her son’s suicide attempt in November 2021, the filing said.

In a court filing asking the judge to dismiss the case, the school district’s attorney, Jerry Walz, wrote that J.P. failed to provide the school district with critical details about his bullying. Further, Walz wrote, school officials could not provide constant protection to the student and Galindo did his job by following up with him with details about the bullying after their first meeting.

“There was nothing more that could be reasonably done absent any details about the harassment,” Walz wrote.

Noel agreed, writing in his order, “In the absence of any information about bullying at the school, (the school district) was unable to intervene and prevent the perpetrators from continuing their taunting.”

He disagreed that Parolini would be able to effectively use expert witnesses to convince a judge or jury that school officials can work to prevent bullying even if they know few details about the case.

Parolini’s Albuquerque-based attorney, Nicholas Hart, told the Observer Wednesday that he would appeal the ruling but would offer no further comment on the case.

RRPS spokesperson Wyndham Kemsley told the Observer Wednesday that the district cannot comment on pending litigation.