Several employees at Alfred T. Bonnabel High School physically abused a severely disabled special education student, including by kicking him and tying him down, as well as subjecting him to humiliation in front of his peers, the boy’s parents allege in a civil rights lawsuit filed last month.
The Sept. 15 lawsuit was filed in New Orleans federal court by Reda Abdelaal and Rehan Mohamad, parents of the students, who chose to send him to Bonnabel because of its accommodations for children with special needs. The teenager, referred to only as “H.A.” in the suit to protect his identity, has “severe disabilities,” according to the complaint, including cerebral palsy, autism, a seizure disorder and is deaf with cochlear implants. H.A. also uses a wheelchair and wears diapers. The suit names the Jefferson Parish School Board, Jefferson Schools Superintendent James Gray, Bonnabel High School Principal Katrina Torrado and a number of Bonnabel employees as defendants.
The lawsuit, which is based in large part on classroom camera footage, comes just before schools across the state will be required to install video cameras in all special education classrooms. Under a new state law, passed earlier this year, cameras must be installed by February 2026. The law passed after state audits found hundreds of uses of seclusion and restraint against students with disabilities every year — and poor monitoring of the controversial practices by the state. It also included more stringent rules for seclusion and restraint…