Former Myers Park student drops Title IX lawsuit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Anna Maria Della Costa
·3 min read

A former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools student who says her report of being raped in a high school bathroom in 2016 wasn’t properly investigated will drop a federal complaint against the district and end her relationship with the attorney who filed it.

Serena Evans, a former Myers Park High student, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in her case, her attorney Christina Graziano confirmed to The Charlotte Observer. Graziano said Evans filed the dismissal March 17 without prejudice, meaning she has a year to find new counsel and refile if she chooses.

“I have terminated my relationship with Ms. Evans and will not be participating in any future claims or lawsuits she files,” Graziano, of Maryland-based KBA Attorneys, said.

Evans, now 21, and Graziano filed a lawsuit in June 2022 in the U.S. District Court for North Carolina’s western district seeking damages in excess of $75,000 for each of five counts. Evans alleged school leaders, and by extension CMS, violated her rights under Title IX.

Title IX requires public schools to methodically investigate reports about possible harassment or sexual violence as well as take steps to prevent further victimization or harm.

A trial date was set for April 15, 2024, after settlement talks weren’t successful.

In the complaint, Evans alleged CMS failed to protect her in 2016 from sexual harassment and assault, ignored multiple other reports of sexual violence on the Myers Park campus and retaliated against Evans for reporting her alleged assault.

She was 15 at the time of the alleged attack, and one of many former students, the Observer has reported, to share stories of harassment or sexual violence on the Myers Park High campus.

“Serena is the mouthpiece for all of the other survivors across CMS,” Graziano told The Charlotte Observer in June. “She’s sending the message to them that yes, you can come forward.”

CMS’ board in August asked the court to partially dismiss Evans’ federal lawsuit, and U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. in January dismissed four counts because the district lacked jurisdiction over certain claims, according to a court filing.

Neither CMS nor the school board had any comment Thursday, said Charles Jeter, the executive director of government affairs, policy, and board services. Kay Mayes, Evans’ mom, said she was unable to comment Thursday.

CMS cleared in earlier decision

The dropped lawsuit comes nearly three months after a federal jury in Charlotte cleared CMS of wrongdoing in another case involving a former Myers Park High student, Jane Doe, who claimed school officials failed to prevent or properly investigate her 2015 sexual assault claim.

Doe, a pseudonym used in the lawsuit and during the trial to protect her identity, claimed she was sexually discriminated against by CMS when Myers Park High officials inadequately responded to a violent assault she says she endured on Nov. 3, 2015, by another Myers Park student. The jury decided Doe and her attorneys did not prove CMS and Myers Park High were “deliberately indifferent” to her assault claims — an essential element of proving discrimination claims such as Doe’s that are filed under Title IX.

Doe and her attorney, Laura Dunn, in February filed an appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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