Seattle Schools Taken To Court Over Student Treatment By a Teacher

This just doesn't happen to SPS. They usually are able to settle out of court but not this time. The case is Sheikhibrahim v. Seattle School District and the case is playing out in King County Superior Court.

Background from past posts

KUOW reports that a former SPS student is suing the district over a teacher punching him in the face in front of his class.

Seattle Public Schools faces a lawsuit from a 2018 incident in which a math teacher at Meany Middle School punched an eighth-grader in the face in front of the entire class. 

A KUOW investigation found that the district, then led by Superintendent Larry Nyland, gave teacher James Miller Johnson only a five-day suspension for punching the student, and that Johnson had a documented history of abusing students when the district hired him, and previously at Meany.
This despite nearly a decade of complaints about Johnson.

Now 19, Sheikhibrahim is suing the district in King County Superior Court for damages, including for negligence and for allegedly letting school administrators retaliate against him for getting his teacher in trouble. 

In its 2020 reporting, KUOW revealed that Johnson went on to abuse kids after being moved to nearby Washington Middle School. The district fired him in 2021, following reports of abuse at Washington, and Johnson surrendered his teaching certificate.

The last paragraph of the story caught my eye.

In court filings, the district denied the retaliation claims, and said it was not aware Johnson had a history of abusing students when it hired him.

Today

The student was 13 at the time and is now 21.  The student received a 15-day suspension while Johnson got a 5-day suspension. 

According to a KING 5 report, his lawyers say they have over a dozen instances of the Johnson putting hands on other students. Johnson resigned in 2021 as part of a settlement agreement with SPS. 

As well, in another report, KING 5 tv reported this on October 8, 2025:

 

In King County Superior Court, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) admitted it was negligent for failing to remove a teacher who allegedly assaulted a 13-year-old student more than seven years ago.

“They just made this huge concession: ‘We’re liable,’” Judge O’Donnell said to the plaintiff’s attorney Lara Hruska.

The district’s admission came shortly before opening statements were set to begin, throwing the day’s proceedings into disarray. With the sudden shift, the court had to pause to determine what evidence would now be admissible. But now, any evidence not directly related to the student in this case, such as inappropriate touching or interactions with other staff, is off the table.

The central question: how much liability is the district actually admitting to?

“We are not admitting or agreeing that we are responsible for this intentional act, which was outside the scope of his employment,” SPS' attorney said in court. 

As you may recall from my post about nepotism in SPS, it is interesting to see that the same people I named also moved Johnson around from school to school. 

By Sarah Pritchett at McClure

By Chanda Oatis at Meany

By Katrina Hunt at Washington.

It has also been reported to me that Leslie Harris, former Board president at the time of the incident, came to at least one day of the proceedings. As well, Brent Jones, former superintendent, has given testimony. Head of HR, Sarah Pritchett, is to testify tomorrow. 

What should be interesting is that Johnson eventually got transferred to Nova High. The former principal of Nova at that time, the great Dr. Mark Perry, is scheduled to testify next week. Apparently Perry did not want to renew Johnson's contract but Larry Nyland, superintendent at the time, overruled him. 

So they paid off Johnson to go away and now will likely have to settle with this student (and possibly other students who say he was allegedly abusive to them as well).