 A civil lawsuit alleging negligence and handling both physical and mental abuse towards a former student and his family has been filed against three officials employed at the Painesville Independent School District. I'm going to call him RJ just to protect him since he's a minor, was a student at Painesville Independent High School. I guess it's just called Painesville High School. And he was facing some bullying and his mother worked there at the school as well. She was very proactive in trying to get help for RJ, talking to the principal, the vice principal, his teachers, to no avail. According to the lawsuit, RJ not only faced bullying for his race and religion, but also received violent threats of burning his home down, killing his cats, and threats to stab RJ. The suit also alleged that principal Tiffany Adkins advised RJ to physically confront his bullies and she would look the other way. Despite the parents going to the principal's like, can you do anything on this? You know, they said no and they actually encouraged RJ to retaliate with violence. It's absurd, completely absurd. I've never heard of that. And this just doesn't, this shouldn't happen in Kentucky schools. And it didn't happen when I was in high school. I can't imagine this happening in any kind of Kentucky school. And then of course, what happened? You know, a teacher knows about the threats of violence, leaves the classroom, and sure enough, RJ gets the crap beaten out of him. So much so, that it has caused vision loss. You want to save money and Appalachian Wireless gets that. Right now, you can get up to $650 off select devices, including the latest and the greatest on the advantage and limited plan with a trade in. Did y'all hear me? Up to $650 off select devices, including the latest and greatest with a trade in. I'm not a math whiz, but this deal, it's amazing. And you'll be on the region's premier network. We are you. We are Appalachian Wireless. RJ was punched in the face and body repeatedly choked and knocked unconscious. Videos of the attack were then shared to social media. As a result of the attack, RJ suffered a severe concussion and a fractured orbital floor in his left eye, which led to potentially permanent vision loss. I don't think that this is indicative of all Kentucky schools. I don't believe that at all because of what we've all experienced in Kentucky schools. I don't think I ever felt this level of harassment, but it's this particular school. And I think it's also worthy to note, and we actually pointed out in the complaint, he went to another Paintsville, Johnson County school system, and he did well there. I mean, he was fine at Johnson County. It was this school and their lack of action. And it's just a principal should never encourage a student to go retaliate and beat the others, the bullies up. It results in this kind of violence and serious injuries. And it's just, it's just appalling. We reached out to Paintsville School District for comment, but have not heard back. Reporting for Mountaintop News, I'm Brianna Robinson.