SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania school district superintendent says a lawsuit filed by a couple who claim their 16-year-old girl who shot herself last year after she was strip-searched and suspended over drug allegations is baseless.
Slippery Rock Superintendent Kathleen Nogay says the allegations and claims in the federal lawsuit filed Monday by Shane and Sandy Maxwell, of Portersville, "lack any basis in fact or law."
The couple says their daughter, Tiffani, shot herself the day after she was given a 10-day suspension in January 2011, apparently because she was afraid the punishment would keep her from being promoted to the next grade.
The Maxwells also claim their daughter was bullied and got in trouble after another student claimed to see her with drugs on a school bus, even though Tiffani's parents say her mother drove her to school that day.
