Allred's family reaches settlement with school

SOUTH BEND — A lawsuit alleging that Elkhart Schools failed to prevent a middle schooler's suicide has been settled for an undisclosed amount.

The suit was brought against Elkhart Community Schools following the death of 12-year-old Rio Allred on March 14, 2022. The mother of the North Side Middle School student, Nicole Ball, said Allred was frequently bullied by other students because of her hair loss and sexual orientation.

The lawsuit was dismissed by joint stipulation on July 11, following a mediation and settlement agreement the previous month.

Ball sought $4 million from the district in the Sept. 1 complaint filed in U.S. District Court. She alleged that the school district failed to follow its own policies by not involving a Title IX coordinator after they brought Allred's treatment to the attention of the school.

The bullying started two weeks after Rio started seventh grade. She had recently been diagnosed with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, and was taunted with baldness-based nicknames, according to her mother.

The family also alleged that Allred suffered physical abuse. They recounted incidents when students allegedly pulled her wig off, hit her, kicked her out of her chair and choked her.

Her family said they reached out to the school on multiple occasions but weren't aware of any instances of students being disciplined. Nearly two weeks before Allred's death, she and her family met with a school counselor and a social worker.

Her mother provided them the names of several students who had been harassing Allred, along with details of their specific acts of physical and verbal abuse, the lawsuit said. The family did not hear from the school after the meeting, according to the lawsuit.

In response to the lawsuit, Elkhart Community Schools acknowledged that Ball reported incidents of a student striking Allred and pushing her out of her chair, and that Allred sent an email to the school counselor saying a student called her names and tripped her down the stairs.

The district denied that administrative leaders failed to follow sexual harassment and bullying policies or failed to properly train district personnel on compliance with those policies. The school also denied that it failed to take appropriate disciplinary action against the students who were harassing and physically assaulting Allred.

Then-superintendent Steve Thalheimer said the district's liability insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual, conducted a "high-level overview" and shared that they "found many of the components of (our) bullying prevention program do align with the best practices identified by multiple national resources."