SEATTLE — For years Seattle Public Schools received warnings about math teacher James Johnson for allegedly using profanity and making students uncomfortable.

That was before he punched a student in the face.

Now, attorneys in a civil case underway in King County Superior Court want the district to pay between $76 million and $124 million for the harm they argue then-13-year-old Zakaria Sheikhibrahim suffered in a Meany Middle School classroom back in January 2018.

His lawyers say Sheikhibrahim’s life unalterably changed after the assault: He suffered a traumatic brain injury and has major depressive and post-traumatic stress disorders. He also has memory loss and, now 21, has been unable to hold a steady job.

The case is expected to last through late October, with high-profile former and current district employees expected to take the stand. Former Superintendent Brent Jones testified last week.

Lara Hruska, one of Sheikhibrahim’s attorneys, and her colleagues say a central question in the case is whether Seattle Public Schools chose to shield adults at the expense of the children it’s supposed to safeguard. And they believe there is a racial component.

They specifically named a group of Black leaders who engaged in what Hruska labeled a “misguided effort” to protect those in their network, in what she called “a devastating part of the nepotism” in the district.

Attorneys for Seattle Public Schools admitted the school system did not keep Sheikhibrahim safe, and the district was negligent in supervising, training and keeping Johnson on staff.

“James Johnson should have never hit Mr. Sheikhibrahim,” said Shellie McGaughey, one of the district’s attorneys, in her opening statement. “He should not have thrown him out of the class. He should not have escalated the situation. Violence is never the answer, especially with children.”

The district argues Johnson acted outside the scope of his employment when he hit the student, but denies that it was negligent in hiring Johnson.

McGaughey also argued that damages resulting from the incident, if proven, should be $100,000 or less, questioning Sheikhibrahim’s attorneys’ claims of their client’s ongoing injuries and permanent impairment.

Johnson and Seattle Public School parted ways in 2021, more than two years after he hit Sheikhibrahim, following a 2020 KUOW report that included audio recorded by a student in Johnson's next-period class where Johnson admitted that “I had to punch a student in the face.”

The KUOW series also revealed that Johnson had been disciplined in previous school districts, including a formal reprimand in 2004 in Clover Park School District, south of Tacoma, for allegedly pushing a student into a locker. Seattle Public Schools has said it was unaware of these incidents because Johnson did not disclose them during hiring.

Sheikhibrahim’s attorneys argue that Seattle Public Schools had ample warnings that Johnson was a danger to students. In 2010, Mark Perry, Johnson’s former principal at Nova High School in Madrona, reprimanded Johnson, asked for an investigation into his alleged inappropriate conduct with students, and declined to renew Johnson’s contract that year. In 2011 he wrote to the district’s human resources and legal departments that Johnson was a “danger” to students and was unfit to be a teacher.

“It is only a matter of time, I believe, before something serious happens involving a student and/or possibly a parent,” Perry wrote.

The November before Johnson hit Sheikhibrahim, a parent at Meany Middle School emailed the school’s principal and the superintendent demanding to know why Johnson had allegedly grabbed her son.

Instead of investigating, Hruska said school and district officials followed a dismissive pattern: “No report, no investigation, no protection.”

Sheikhibrahim’s attorneys also argue the district discriminated against their client, who is Black, Muslim and of Somali descent, contending Johnson and the district treated him differently based on his race, religion and national origin. The school system defamed their client by suspending him in connection with the assault and through statements by its employees portraying Sheikhibrahim as a “problematic” student, they said.

The district denies the discrimination and defamation claims. McGaughey highlighted the district’s focus on reducing educational disparities for African American boys, and noted Johnson’s first Seattle Public Schools job at the now-closed African American Academy. At Meany, Johnson and other leaders also started a club to remedy tensions between American-born Black students and recent African immigrant students or those of African descent, she said. Sheikhibrahim was a member of the group, she said.

The district’s attorneys argued that earlier complaints against Johnson did not rise to a level that required formal discipline. But the district acknowledged in court documents that the overwhelming majority of the allegations levied against Johnson concerned alleged inappropriate interactions with female students.

Seattle Public Schools declined to comment when asked about the case, the allegations against the district and the employees named in the lawsuit.

“We want to respect the role of the judge and jury in ensuring the fairness of the trial,” Eric Guerci, the district’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement.

The district’s attorneys and Misa Garmoe, the district’s executive director of employee and association relations, who was in court this month, also declined to comment.

Johnson also could not be reached for comment via a publicly available phone number and email addresses.

The Jan. 11 altercation started when Johnson asked Sheikhibrahim to remove his backpack in compliance with a school policy. The two argued. Johnson “taunted, teased, and challenged” the student, according to the district’s investigative report.

Students told the district-hired investigator that both Johnson and Sheikhibrahim used a racial slur during the argument. At some point, Johnson grabbed Sheikhibrahim’s shirt, punched him in the jaw, dragged him across a table and threw him out of the classroom, according to public records and media reports.

Johnson was charged with one count of assault in Seattle Municipal Court and completed a 24-month deferred prosecution deal, with community service. The charge was dismissed in 2020, according to court records.

Then-Superintendent Larry Nyland imposed a five-day unpaid suspension on Johnson — shorter than the 20 days the district’s human resources department recommended. He cited statements shared by Meany Principal Chanda Oatis and staff about Johnson’s skill as an instructor and mentor to Black male students.

But within two days of returning to Meany, Johnson was back on leave after parents, upset to learn of his return, started emailing administrators. They complained Johnson had allegedly made bullying and threatening remarks and had allegedly inappropriately touched female students.

One parent wrote in an email that Johnson told students he’d hurt them if they “messed with his stuff.” He also put his hand on a female student’s shoulders in a way that made her uncomfortable, according to another parent’s email.

The district’s human resources department initially sought to fire Johnson. But doing so could put the district at risk of costly litigation in a case it might lose, according to an internal memo dated Jan. 22, 2019.

Firing would likely be seen “as a strong action on the part of the district in protecting students from inappropriate teacher behavior,” John Cerqui, then the district’s deputy chief legal counsel, and Stan Damas, the former executive director of labor and employee relations, wrote in the memo. But firing also carried a risk that Johnson could sue.

Another option was to assign Johnson to a different school, which would avoid “the expense and embarrassment of litigating” a case the district would likely lose, the memo read. It also noted that Johnson was an effective math teacher, in a position that could be “difficult to fill.”

Reassigning Johnson to another school also risked upsetting community members who might be “distressed” that the district retained a teacher who had punched a student. The teachers union would also have to agree to any potential transfer, and could file a grievance about it, the memo noted.

In the end, Johnson was sent to The Center School for the rest of the 2018-19 school year, with directives to address his behavior, including refraining from using pet names and touching students. The next year he went to Washington Middle School, where the principal was Katrina Hunt, the sister of Meany Principal Oatis.

In an interview this summer, Sheikhibrahim said before the incident he’d been looking forward to attending Meany Middle School, which had just reopened after a renovation. He was excited about going there with some of his new friends, playing soccer and basketball.

But even before the assault, he tensed up before Johnson’s math class, he said. Johnson allegedly regularly used that racial slur in sentences, was aggressive, cursed students and acted inappropriately with female students, Sheikhibrahim said.

“He would be, like, flirting with them to an extent, calling them ‘baby,’ putting his hand on their shoulders, calling them ‘honey,’” Sheikhibrahim said. “I could tell they are feeling uncomfortable.”

He didn’t want to talk about being assaulted and the negative attention that followed, but said he remains disappointed in the district’s response. He said Oatis, the school’s principal, told him that he almost got her best teacher fired.

He never got an apology from Johnson or the district or any counseling or mental health services, his attorneys said.

Sheikhibrahim said he’d wanted to study computer science in college, play basketball and be the first in his generation to graduate from college. His brother is now on that path without him.

“The mental toll it took on (my family) was out of this world,” Sheikhibrahim said, adding that the effects continue to this day.

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