During a verbal altercation at a Delaware high school earlier this year, an employee grabbed one student’s shoulder to pull her away, according to a new lawsuit. In the process, the student, Aniya Harmon, felt her clothes come loose, exposing her right breast to onlooking students, the lawsuit alleges.
Harmon, who was a senior at Sussex Central High School, said she heard a few days later that employees were circulating a meme that displayed a student’s breast. She worried the meme was of her.
About a week later, a school district administrator called Harmon’s mother, Tosha White, confirming what she and her daughter feared about the meme, White told The Washington Post.
On Monday, Harmon filed a lawsuit against the high school, its school district and two administrators who Harmon said used surveillance video of the May altercation to make the meme. The lawsuit alleges that administrators invaded her privacy after singer Janet Jackson’s face was superimposed on top of Harmon’s — a reference to Jackson’s breast being revealed while she was performing during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
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In addition to seeking damages and attorney’s fees, Harmon said she doesn’t want the administrators to work in schools again.
“It hurt me the most,” Harmon, 18, told The Post. “I felt humiliated; I felt embarrassed. I felt like everywhere I was going, everybody was just looking at me in a weird way because of it.”
Sussex Central High School principal Bradley Layfield and assistant principal Matthew Jones have been on administrative leave since the end of May, according to Layfield’s attorney, Thomas Neuberger.
Neuberger said a fight broke out between Harmon and two other students at the Georgetown, Del., school on May 17. He said Layfield was following procedure when he showed the surveillance video to roughly 11 colleagues and to a Delaware State Police trooper as part of the school’s investigation into the fight. Neuberger denied that Layfield helped create the meme.
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“He wants to be reinstated as the principal of the high school, which was his career goal and dream,” Neuberger said.
Sussex Central High School directed interview requests to the Indian River School District, which declined to comment. Jones did not respond to a request.
Share this articleShareA Delaware State Police spokesperson said the department is investigating the incident.
Harmon said she was walking to her English class on the morning of May 17 when she passed two arguing students. Harmon recalled telling one of them that “it was too early in the morning to be doing all that yelling.” The student shouted at Harmon in response, the lawsuit says.
Harmon said she was only involved in a verbal altercation, during which a school employee grabbed her and caused her right breast to slip out of her clothes. Harmon was taken to the administrative office, where Jones said that he would review the surveillance footage, according to Harmon’s lawsuit. Layfield asked Harmon to leave school that day, the lawsuit says.
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Layfield later showed the surveillance footage to multiple teachers, assistant principals and a school district administrator, Neuberger said. Jones then made the meme on a school laptop and showed it to his colleagues, the lawsuit alleges.
“Mr. Jones worked with Mr. Layfield and possibly others to create a meme image of the surveillance video that was in his possession, even though he was never given permission by Plaintiff to do so,” the lawsuit states.
Harmon’s complaint — filed in Delaware Superior Court in New Castle County — says the administrators’ actions were “malicious” and meant to cause her “embarrassment and harm.”
Harmon learned about the meme May 19, the lawsuit says. The Indian River School District placed Layfield and Jones on administrative leave May 22, Neuberger said.
“It is a regular practice of the Indian River School District to place employees on paid leave in many circumstances, including when there is an allegation, investigation, complaint, threat against the employee, or other instance warranting paid leave,” the school district said in a statement in May.
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Harmon said she was embarrassed to attend her graduation ceremony May 30 but tried to act as though nothing had happened when she walked across a stage on the school’s football field.
But Harmon said she soon stopped leaving her house and didn’t want to go to work at a local grocery store, fearing that people would stare at her or tease her.
Harmon’s mother said her daughter is now riddled with anxiety and no longer trusts others.
“You can tell that she’s still thinking about it,” White said. “It’s always on her mind.”
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