The mother of a 9-year-old Indian Hill Elementary School student says in a federal lawsuit that he was racially harassed, targeted for a “coordinated ambush” at a football practice, then in October was attacked and injured by multiple students on a school playground – and that teachers and others failed to act.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 19 by attorney Robert Thompson in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, raises numerous claims, including racial discrimination, due process violations as well as a First Amendment retaliation claim.
In an interview, the boy, Will J Castleberry, and his mother said the school and its adults failed to protect him.
“He was physically hurt, but he was mentally traumatized afterwards, and that’s what (he) carries with him,” his mother, Eden Castleberry, said.
When asked about the case and the alleged failure to respond to racial harassment, the district said in a statement that it “takes any allegation of harassment or discrimination seriously.” It said it could not comment on specific claims or individual students because of privacy reasons.
“Every allegation of harassment or discrimination on our campus during school hours or during school-sponsored activities is investigated; we do not comment on ongoing investigations,” the district said.
The racial harassment began in the fall of 2024, according to the lawsuit. It claims that three white students repeatedly called Will J, who is of mixed race, “monkey.”
The bullying escalated this school year, the boy’s mom said, until he was beaten on a school playground, suffering a concussion, bruised ribs and other injuries.
Boy was ‘ambushed’, mother says in lawsuit
Castleberry reported the derogatory comments directed at her son to a school administrator, but no action was taken, the lawsuit says.
A year later, on Sept. 18, 2025, two of the boy’s teammates, who are white, “ambushed” him after football practice, according to the complaint. One charged at him and slammed him to the ground; the other grabbed his head and repeatedly slammed it into the ground, then began choking him while he was pinned down.
The football team is a club team not affiliated with the school. But the suit argues that the club functions exactly like a school team. It uses the school mascot, its practices happen on school district property and all the players are Indian Hill students.
The day after the alleged beating, Castleberry called Indian Hill Elementary’s principal, Whitney Buell, and detailed what had happened. Buell said the school would not take action, the lawsuit says, because the attack happened after practice, and the school wasn’t responsible.
When asked about its lack of response to the Sept. 18 incident, the district said its “policies strictly prohibit discriminatory or harassing behavior during school-sponsored services and activities. When concerns are brought to our attention regarding conduct within the scope of school authority, we respond promptly.”
The district did not respond to questions asking whether it has opened an investigation into the staff members listed as defendants in the lawsuit or if any of those staffers have been placed on leave since the lawsuit was filed.
Were the boy’s teammates disciplined?
Castleberry said she approached the team’s coaches and was told they would handle it. But the children involved were not disciplined, she said, although the team’s head coach told parents that there was “appropriate discipline.”
On Oct. 2, Castleberry and another family member met with Buell and an assistant principal who, according to the lawsuit, insisted that the alleged incident didn’t fall under their responsibility because it happened after practice.
The next day, the team’s head coach, Chris Bortz, sent an email to the team’s families, which referred to “serious missteps” that were not “criminal in nature.”
The email added: “Appropriate discipline was applied, and we’re ready to move forward and finish the season strong. Please remind your sons to treat teammates with respect, report mistreatment to a coach and avoid retaliation.”
Bortz did not respond to requests for comment.
Mom says teammates organized playground attack
Several weeks later, during lunch on Oct. 28, Castleberry said Will J was surrounded on a school playground by six students who closed in on him. At least one held Will J’s arms behind his back while the others hit, kicked and punched him.
He eventually broke away and ran, but the others again grabbed him. One “drop-kicked him and stomped his head,” the lawsuit says, while others again kicked and hit him. This time, the 9-year-old heard racial slurs shouted at him.
Will J ran to an adult who oversaw the playground. Castleberry said that person, Courtney Strittmatter, who is listed by the district as a playground aide, did not take him to a school nurse or comfort him. Instead, she made him apologize to one of the children involved in the attack.
Later, his mother said, his teacher sent him to stand in a hallway, alone, to calm down.
The lawsuit says Assistant Principal Nate Eigher eventually spoke to the boy, but Eigher “minimized what happened and took no safety steps.”
Will J was placed in an isolation room, the lawsuit says.
The Enquirer reached out directly to Buell, Eigher and Strittmatter but a district spokeswoman responded and said the district’s prepared statement would be the only comment.
Boy diagnosed with concussion
Hours after the attack, Castleberry said, the school called her. When she picked up her son, she said, she was told that he had been taken to the nurse. She also said she was told two administrators reviewed video of what happened on the playground and that they described it as “horseplay that got serious real quick.”
The next day, Castleberry took her son to their family doctor who recommended that she immediately take him to Cincinnati Children’s. There, he was diagnosed with a concussion, bruised ribs and bruised wrists.
Later that evening, Castleberry said, Will J told her he had not been taken to the school nurse, contradicting what the school told her.
On Oct. 30, the lawsuit says Castleberry sent a written request asking the district to “press charges” against the students for a “hate-motivated group attack.”
But later that same day, the school district emailed her a letter banning her from “any Indian Hill School District campus or property without prior authorization.” It said she had to first contact the head of human resources, two days in advance, if she wanted to meet with staff or attend an event.
Castleberry said her son, who has been a student in the district since he was 3, now doesn’t feel safe returning to school, unless she sits in on classes with him.
“With the no-contact order, I can’t try to get my son back to his normal,” she said. “His normal was Indian Hill schools.”
The lawsuit also includes text of a Nov. 5 letter Will J typed on a library computer. Castleberry said she told him to write it as if he was looking at the school and telling everyone what he wanted to say.
In the letter, which begins, “Dear Indian Hill Elementary,” the 9-year-old says he doesn’t feel safe going to school “because people called (me) the n-word and jumped me twice.”
It says he can’t go back to the school: “If I go back, I feel like if they jump (me) again I will die.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: School ignored racially charged attacks on boy, 9, mom says in lawsuit
Reporting by Kevin Grasha and Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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