Fair Lawn Student Was Attacked By Bullies, Suffered Concussion, Lawsuit Claims

FAIR LAWN, NJ — The family of a child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is suing the Fair Lawn public schools, claiming their son was bullied and called names.

The child and his mother say that while he was attending Thomas Jefferson Middle School, administrators failed to stop other students from frequently bullying him.

The suit was filed in Bergen County Superior Court on March 13. It names the district as a defendant, as well as various John Does.

"During [his] time as a student at the School, and especially beginning in or about the December 2024, plaintiff was subjected to severe and pervasive bullying, harassment and intimidation at the hands of other students within the school," the suit states.

The suit says the bullying often focused on the child's "actual and/or perceived sexual orientation and actual and/or perceived disabilities," including students spreading rumors that the boy was autistic and gay.

The suit said that the boy received negative treatment due to the "disparaging and harassing rumors" and was a "target of mockery" regarding his grades.

The suit said that students frequently asked him if he was gay and whether he was autistic, in a negative way.

He also has been threatened with physical harm, the suit says, especially by one student who's referred to as T.R.

Attack On Basketball Court

Then, in March 2025, the boy was assaulted by bullies on the basketball court outside school, the suit says, causing him to suffer a concussion and miss school for "a period."

The boy returned and was subject again to harassment, intimidation, and bullying, "despite the district’s clear notice as to same," the suit says. "In fact, plaintiff was so distraught from the continued bullying that he has suffered from severe emotional distress, up to and including PTSD."

The suit says that the parents repeatedly complained to administrators, but the bullying continued, causing emotional harm.

The suit asks for compensatory, punitive, and consequential damages, as well as attorneys' fees.

(The boy's family reached out to Patch after this story was published Wednesday night to say the attack was at Berdan Grove Park on March 10, 2025, and the boy was diagnosed with a concussion at Valley Hospital on March 12.)

Patch reached out on Tuesday and Wednesday to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Rui Dionisio and Assistant Superintendent Claire Keller, the school's anti-bullying coordinator, for a comment. The story will be updated if a comment is received.

The district has Harassment Intimidation Bullying procedures in place, according to their website.

Other Bullying Suits

"Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, physical and bodily injuries, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, anguish, [and] personal hardship," the suit says.

Apparently, bullying complaints are nothing new for the district.

Last month, it was reported that a family filed suit because the daughter was bullied in Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Fair Lawn High School over her Arabic heritage.

In May 2025, a 12-year-old boy told the press that he was crying himself to sleep because of the sixth grade bullies at Thomas Jefferson.

In 2020, Rep. Josh Gottheimer posted on social media, "It was reported this weekend that a group of Fair Lawn students perpetuated a heinous act of bullying toward one of their classmates and circulated a video of the attack on social media. These actions are cruel and unacceptable...I am encouraged that Fair Lawn Public School District has immediately launched an investigation."