- October 5, 2026
Attorneys representing the Volusia County School Board in a lawsuit concerning the 2024 allegations of a 5-year-old boy's sexual assault have filed a motion to dismiss an amended complaint.
The parents of the boy — whose names are being withheld for privacy — originally filed a lawsuit in February against the School Board and an after-school program. The lawsuit, amended on Aug. 26, alleges that on Sept. 19, 2024, during an after-school program at Pathways Elementary in Ormond Beach, an 11-year-old fifth grade student sexually assaulted the 5-year-old kindergartener in a school bathroom.
The two students were participating in the program, run by "Steaming for Success," of South Daytona. As both program teachers were absent that day, a substitute paraprofessional employed by the district was present to supervise the children. The substitute sent the 11-year-old to escort the 5-year-old to the bathroom.
According to the lawsuit, the 11-year-old cornered the kindergartener in a bathroom stall, exposed his genitals and tried to force him to perform oral sex.
The 5-year-old refused and managed to climb out from under the stall door. The parents reported the incident to police.
The district's motion to dismiss, filed on Sept. 10, states that the boy was not under the School Board's duty of care at the time of the incident, citing Florida Statute 1003.31(1) which says that "a student is only under the control of the school during the time she or he is being transported to or from school at public expense, during the time she or he is attending school and when she or he is on school premises for a reasonable time before and after participation in a school-sponsored activity."
In a statement to the Observer, Volusia County Schools stated that the incident outlined in the lawsuit involved an after-school program operated by an outside vendor and was not affiliated with the district. The school district did not comment further, due to the pending litigation.
Steaming for Success is a private company that was renting space from the district for the after-school program, the motion to dismiss states. The district argues the victim was in their custody at the time of the reported assault.
This was echoed in the parents' lawsuit, which states that on Sept. 20, 2024, "instead of a call from the Superintendent or General Counsel expressing concern, the family's outreach was met with bureaucratic maneuvering and attempts to distance the School Board of Volusia County, Florida, from responsibility by characterizing the Steaming for Success program as an 'outside entity.'"
The parents were notified that same day by the Department of Children and Families that the 11-year-old had committed a similar sexual offense against a 5-year-old girl in 2020 while he was a kindergartener as well.
The lawsuit claims that the School Board alleges it had no record of this offense, while noting that the school counselor had received the 2020 report, met with the children and contacted DCF.
"The School Board's institutional failure was not a paperwork mistake," the lawsuit states. "It was a years-long failure to act on known sexual misconduct by the same student, on the same campus, involving the same method of isolating a five-year-old child in a restroom, followed by the same tactic of demanding secrecy."
The 11-year-old remained allowed on campus for several days after the assault allegations were reported. He was removed on Sept. 27, 2024, after "intense and sustained pressure" from the victim's family, attorneys and law enforcement, the parents' lawsuit states.
The district argues against claims of negligence in its motion to dismiss, including that relaying records of the 11-year-old's 2020 incident to the after-school program is prohibited by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as they are classified as confidential "education records."
The parents of the victim are seeking compensatory damages for emotional distress, past and future medical, therapy and educational expenses. They are asking for a jury trial.
