Lawsuit accuses Miami-Dade schools of failing to stop abuse claims

Two unnamed plaintiffs say Miami-Dade County Public Schools failed to stop sexual abuse by a former physical education teacher at a Homestead school, turning a new civil case into another test of how the district handles student-safety warnings.

The lawsuit centers on when administrators knew about the alleged abuse, what they did with complaints and whether earlier action could have kept the teacher away from children. Those questions matter in Homestead, where families rely on district campuses not just for class time but for sports, after-school programs and the daily supervision that keeps students safe across South Miami-Dade.

The new filing lands after a separate Homestead case involving Joseph Edward Tolliver, a former P.E. teacher at Campbell Drive K-8 Center. Tolliver was arrested in 2023 on a lewd-and-lascivious battery charge involving a child 12 to 16 years old, then later faced an additional lewd-and-lascivious molestation charge after another student came forward. One alleged victim said a group of students had reported Tolliver earlier. That sequence has sharpened concern about whether warning signs were missed or ignored before the criminal cases moved forward.

Miami-Dade has already paid heavily in earlier school-sex-abuse cases. In March 2020, the district paid an $8.753 million settlement to five victims of rape by former P.E. teacher Wendell Nibbs. In 2021, a federal jury awarded $6 million in a case involving former Miami Palmetto Senior High School teacher Jason Meyers and found the school board had actual notice of a substantial risk of sexual abuse or harassment and was deliberately indifferent in response.

Florida Department of Education rules require districts to post policies and procedures for reporting alleged misconduct by instructional personnel or administrators that affects student safety. Miami-Dade County Public Schools also has an Office of the Inspector General, whose oversight responsibilities include preventing misconduct and abuse of power. For parents, the practical question is not only whether a teacher is removed, but whether the district’s reporting chain, supervision practices and response timelines work fast enough when children raise alarms.