Miami-Dade school district sued over alleged sex abuse in Homestead school

Two former students at a K-8 school in Homestead are suing Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a teacher, an administrator and a school counselor over the school’s handling of sexual abuse they allegedly experienced when they were 12 and 13 years old.

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The students, sisters filing suit in the Southern District of Florida under “Jane Doe” pseudonyms due to their age at the time, claim in the lawsuit that the school counselor and principal at Campbell Drive K-8 Center did not respond properly when they informed them about a physical education teacher abusing them.

The lawsuit also alleges school officials suggested the students were not telling the truth, recommended they record the alleged abuse and eventually directed the students to not return to school. The students initially filed their lawsuit in late April, but filed an amended complaint on June 8.

The teacher, Joseph Edward Tolliver, who was accused of sexually abusing the girls, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the case remains pending, with a trial set for this September. He was arrested in 2023 for a separate incident where he allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old. Tolliver was terminated after the 2023 incident and can never work for the school district again, according to a Miami Herald report.

The plaintiffs’ allegations against Tolliver include groping and other acts of sexual abuse as well as exposure to pornography and marijuana.

On the school board’s agenda for its meeting next week is a recommendation from the district’s general counsel to provide or secure legal representation for the legal defense of the two current employees named in the lawsuit.

Those two named employees are Maria Vidales, a “community liaison specialist,” and Peter Gutierrez, a former assistant principal at the school. In the suit, they are referred to as a guidance counselor and principal, which the school district’s attorneys claim is incorrect.

The plaintiffs claim the school officials were negligent, discriminatory and caused them emotional distress in their responses to the students’ accounts. They also claim that Tolliver violated their civil rights due to his alleged abuse.

The school district, in its response to the suit, says officials were not informed of the plaintiffs’ issues with Tolliver until after his 2023 arrest for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old. The plaintiffs’ suit claims otherwise.

“The claims made by the Plaintiffs were never investigated. Instead, the Plaintiffs were labeled ‘troublemakers’ by the school and, therefore, not trustworthy. Tolliver was not meaningfully disciplined nor more closely supervised,” attorney Krisel McSweeney of Boca Raton wrote in the complaint.

McSweeney added that the plaintiffs’ mother, referred to as “Mother Doe,” reported “allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate conduct” to Vidales, who then allegedly “discouraged Mother Doe from pursuing the matter further by telling her that the girls would not be believed and recommended that the girls record Tolliver during the sexual assaults or they would not be believed.”

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Tolliver, representing himself in his response to the plaintiff’s claims, denied the allegations that he abused the plaintiffs.

According to , Tolliver was reprimanded by the state’s Education Practices Commission and given two years of probation from teaching in 2012. A letter accompanying the reprimand does not state the reason, but his actions “lessened the reputation of all who practice our profession.”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the school district wrote that “Miami-Dade County Public Schools does not comment on pending litigation.”

The district’s response

The school district has disputed several of the claims, namely that officials at Campbell Drive K-8 Center were informed of the complaint before Tolliver’s 2023 arrest.

It points out that the plaintiffs’ mother did not report their claims against Tolliver until after he was arrested over a separate incident.

“The Amended Complaint acknowledges that Plaintiffs’ mother did not contact the police until that time. Defendants’ actions can only be based on what it knew at the time, which was nothing,” the attorneys for the school district wrote.

They also characterized Tolliver as a “lone actor.”

“Defendants state that they have not engaged in any conduct that proximately caused or contributed to Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries and damages. Tolliver was a lone actor, acting outside the course and scope of his employment,” the attorneys for the district wrote.

In addition to their disputes with the plaintiffs’ characterization of facts, the school district’s attorneys also claim that the suit was filed beyond the statute of limitations under Florida law, which gives plaintiffs three years to take legal action against a public agency like the school district and the school board.

The school board is set to vote on whether they will provide legal representation to the named school employees in the suit at its July 22 meeting, according to . The district’s response to the suit filed earlier this month lists the general counsel as the employees’ attorney.

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