Former principal accused in lawsuit of causing student’s suicide attempt

Lancaster said school officials were aware the girl was in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder over a “serious traumatic event” in 2020 when they enrolled her in the school on July 13 of last year. The Loudoun Times-Mirror isn’t identifying the girl, because she is a minor, or the girl’s mother, who is the plaintiff in the suit.

Lancaster said the girl was taken from the class she was attending to a small room and later moved to an art room where she was held for two hours by Israel and Christine K. Varanelli, former dean of students. Lancaster wrote the girl was given a piece of paper and told to write down what she knew about the knife. The girl said the knife was left in the tree by five students as a prank, but she wasn’t involved in the incident.

Lancaster wrote that the girl, who had her phone taken away, began to have a panic attack and was taken to the art room and given ice to help alleviate the attack. She was then told she was being suspended which exacerbated her panic.

“Defendant waved the knife in question in her face and stabbed the knife into the art room table in front of her and Mrs. Varanelli to drive home the point that the knife was a weapon,” Lancaster wrote. “[The girl] continued crying and began self-harming her hand in front of the defendant who did nothing to address the obvious mental and emotional distress resulting from the extreme and outrageous interrogation tactics of the defendant.”

Lancaster said photographic evidence taken on her way to the school and in the school bathroom show the hand injury occurred during the interrogation. The girl and several other students were suspended for a week, according to the suit which said the girl struggled academically and emotionally when she returned due to the interrogation.

Lancaster wrote that the girl attempted suicide in her home on Oct. 29 by overdosing on lithium she’d been prescribed. She was treated at Inova Loudoun Hospital for three days and then spent 11 days at the North Springs Behavioral Healthcare Center in Leesburg. Staff at the center and hospital said in writing that the suicide attempt was related to the school incident, according to the suit.

Lancaster accused Israel of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” saying she should’ve considered the girl’s PTSD when interrogating her and de-escalated the situation when the girl began to panic.

“Instead, she observed the plaintiff’s daughter hysterically shaking and crying, yet still knowingly and intentionally proceeded to wave the knife around and stab it into the table to make her point,” Lancaster wrote. “The interrogation tactics caused her to self-harm in the moment and the overall outrageous and intolerable situation triggered a psychological downward spiral that resulted in a suicide attempt.”

Lancaster, who didn’t return a call or email on Wednesday, wrote in the suit that the girl finished out the year at the school before withdrawing. A receptionist at the school said Israel and Varanelli no longer work at the school.

School founder Deep Sran didn’t return calls or emails on Tuesday or Wednesday, but Endeavor attorney Margret Hagar disputed Lancaster’s account of how Israel allegedly handled the knife. She said staff acted with “high regard to safety and school policies” in handling the incident.

“The safety of students in our schools is the highest priority and we take all reasonable measures to protect the safety of our students and staff,” she said. “Including when students unwisely fail to report the presence of a potential instrument of harm on campus.”

The school, which has about 60 students, was founded in 2008, according to a 2013 Capital News Service article. The school’s website said the school’s mission is to challenge students with real world problems and provide an environment that promotes “curiosity, self-reliance and citizenship.”

The school has a 4 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio and students can expect “unparalleled access” to teachers, according to the website. It said teachers are “intellectually curious, highly capable, and dedicated to student-centered learning.”