Cincinnati Public Schools: Sorry about Gabriel Taye, but we didn't cause his suicide

Cincinnati Public Schools responded this month to the wrongful-death lawsuit from Gabriel Taye’s parents. The document’s first and last paragraphs deliver expressions of sorrow over the 8-year-old’s Jan. 26 suicide. The 40 pages in between argue that the case should be dismissed because school leaders did not cause his death.

“Taye’s death is tragic and has undoubtedly brought his parent immeasurable grief,” said the CPS reply. “The question in this case is whether CPS and its administrators are responsible for Taye’s death and his parents’ grief. A careful examination of the law and the facts alleged in the complaint confirms that they are not.”

Gabriel’s parents, Cornelia Reynolds of Cincinnati and Benyam Taye of Atlanta, filed the wrongful-death suit in August, eight months after Gabriel died from suicide in his mother’s Westwood home. The parents seek unspecified damages from CPS for minimizing, denying and covering up the extent of bullying against Gabriel and at the West Price Hill school in general.

But the CPS response says there is no indication that school officials ignored reports of bullying against Gabriel or that they minimized his injuries. The response, filed Oct. 6, says the wrongful-death suit, if successful, would impose new burdens on schools.

“The court should decline the invitation to impose onerous, untested, unnecessary new requirements on the public-school system,” the CPS response said.

Jennifer Branch, a Cincinnati lawyer representing Gabriel’s parents in the federal suit, said about the CPS response, “We’re disappointed that the school district chose to fight instead of resolving this case, but we’re confident that the law supports all the claims in the lawsuit.”

The tragedy of the 8-year-old’s death became complicated in the spring when his mother learned that one of 31 security cameras around Carson Elementary captured an incident at the entry of a school restroom two days before the boy’s death.

The security-camera video shows that as Gabriel entered, another student either pulled him or assaulted him, and Gabriel slumped to the floor. The video showed Gabriel lay unconscious for nearly seven minutes.

Carson’s assistant principal, Jeffrey McKenzie, appeared and roused Gabriel to his feet. Gabriel walked under his own power to the nurse’s office. The nurse examined Gabriel and then summoned his mother, who took him home. No one at Carson told Gabriel’s mother that he had fainted.

A few hours later, Gabriel complained of stomach pains, and his mother took him to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated and discharged. His mother kept him home from school the next day. But the day after that, Gabriel went back to Carson, where in the morning, two students took his water bottle from him. That night at home, Gabriel hanged himself.

Gabriel’s death came amid an outbreak of youth suicide in Greater Cincinnati – at least 23 people 18 and under have taken their own lives in the past 21 months. Local school and mental-health officials have been examining how best to monitor students, although they are at a loss to explain the regional increase in youth suicides.