Josi Harrison (left) and Laura Lefebvre say they were harassed and abused for three years at Clatskanie Middle/High School by other students and the school did nothing to stop the bullying.
Parents and their teenage daughters, who say they were bullied into sending nude photos to boys at their school, have filed a federal lawsuit against the Clatskanie School District.
The girls say they were harassed and abused for three years and that their school didn't do enough to protect them.
"I thought, why would you ever send a picture of yourself out?" said one of the girls, Josi Harrison. "But what these boys do to you, you feel like you have no option."
They were only 12 and 13 years old at the time, seventh-graders at
Clatskanie Middle/High School. The girls say when they tried to go to the principal, the school counselor and other teachers for help, they were told to "suck it up."
The students and their parents gave example after example. Boys were allowed into the locker room while girls were undressed and teachers watched as the girls got slapped in the face.
"That day for the second time, the same student made me bleed - he threw a book at me and cut my lip open," said another girl, Laura Lefebvre.
"I went to the principal, and I said this is enough. This isn't how I deserve to be treated. He said, 'Well, we can take you out of the class.' I said, 'That's not fair. That's them winning. I think there should be consequences for them.' He said, 'Well, boys will be boys.'"The girls' mothers said the school principal refused to protect their daughters.
Laura's mother, Jennifer Lefebvre, said the principal told her "it had to be handled very delicately because he didn't want the harassment and the bullying to get worse than what she deserved. And I said she doesn't deserve this. No child deserves this. And we knew then that it just was a lost cause."