DES MOINES, Iowa — An Urbandale couple has filed a lawsuit against the Urbandale School District after they say their daughter was sexually abused during a middle school English class in 2018.

Michael and Jodi Safris filed the lawsuit seeking damages for their daughter’s time at Urbandale Middle School. They say the district failed to adhere to its own policies and led to their daughter becoming suicidal.

According to the lawsuit, the Safris’ daughter sent nude pictures of herself to a fellow male student. The male student became angry after the Safris’ daughter refused to go out with him, so he sent the nude pictures to friends. During trial on Tuesday the prosecution also claimed that the male student’s friends were looking at the photos during school hours.

“[The male student] went to school and he distributed all of the nude photos of [the female student] to his friends,” said the prosecuting attorney, Cory Gourley. “The other boys in the school, they actually looked at them out and open in the school.”

During trial the attorney for the Urbandale School District argued that there was no evidence pointing to the Safris’ daughter reporting the alleged sexual abuse.

“The evidence will also show that she did not report any of this bullying and harassment anyone,” said Janice Thomas, Attorney for Urbandale Schools.

The lawsuit will feature expert witnesses who are expected to testify as to the damage that the Safris’ daughter sustained. The trial is expected to last around 10 days.

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