A former student has added the school department and superintendent as defendants in a federal case against high school’s principal stemming from an assault on school grounds.
Aug 25, 2026
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BAR HARBOR—A lawsuit filed by a former Mount Desert Island High School student this past May against Mount Desert Island High School Principal Matt Haney has expanded this summer to include the school department, Superintendent Michael Zboray, as well as a Title IX claim.
Title IX claims are sex-based discrimination claims. If a school receives any federal funds, Title IX complaints can apply to them. Haney’s attorneys argued that there were no gendered insults or stereotyping and that the plaintiff’s (the student injured) were framing inaction as action.
The federal lawsuit stems from a 2024 assault on school grounds involving the former student where she was hit multiple times while on the ground outside a school bus. The incident was captured on cell phones and was posted on social media accounts throughout the country and was viewed 4.6 million times on one X account.
For many national and local posters, the video has called into question the policy and procedure that the high school employs for student fighting and assaults. In the video, administration staff is present during what appears to be the end of the incident.
Judge Stacey D. Neumann is presiding in the case where the student alleges that Haney told bystanders not to intervene during the assault and that he watched the assault happen, which the student’s lawyers argue violated her constitutional rights.
In July, the student requested a jury trial. According to the filings, the student has alleged that Haney had knowledge that she was allegedly being targeted by the other student and “that the conflict involved hostility related to sex, gender, gender identity and perceived views about sex or gender identity.”
“Principal Haney counts as ‘inaction,’ even where he allegedly took command of the response, chose to meet the bus after receiving advance warning of a renewed assault, eliminated the distance and safety created by the bus driver’s separation of plaintiff and” the other student “and then affirmatively told the bus driver not to intervene while plaintiff was being attacked,” attorney John E. Baldacci Jr wrote in the latest filing for the former student. “The proposed SAC (statement of claim) plausibly alleges that Haney made plaintiff worse off than she would have been had he done nothing at all. That is the relevant inquiry. Had Haney truly done nothing—had he not taken control of the arrival response, not placed himself at the bus, not left plaintiff exposed at the point“ the other student “exited, and not ordered the bus driver to stand down, Plaintiff plausibly would have been in a substantially safer position.”
The former student said that she’d told Haney and a guidance counselor that the other student had called her transphobic online and gestured at her offensively prior to the assault.
“[The] defendants’ failure to respond to [the] plaintiff’s pre-assault reports made [the] plaintiff more vulnerable to further harassment and violence in the school environment,” the complaint reads.
However, the defendants’ lawyers countered in an August 6 filing, “The proposed SAC fails to allege that Principal Haney took any affirmative act that caused or increased the danger to plaintiff, and separately, Principal Haney’s conduct does not shock the conscience.”
A petition by the student’s father gathered 2,501 signatures calling for Haney’s resignation.
The Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Department was not on scene at the time of the incident. The school resource officer was not on the high school campus at the time of the incident.
Zboray previously responded to the Bar Harbor Story’s request for a statement, prior to the litigation, writing, “A student fight occurred in front of MDIHS Friday morning. Due to privacy concerns and confidentiality requirements, I cannot legally share more about the incident or anyone involved,” he wrote. “However, I assure you that school officials are taking the matter seriously and are handling it in accordance with our policies and procedures, which are available online.”
Zboray continued, writing, “Every student altercation is different, and administrative staff are trained to intervene by utilizing a range of de-escalation strategies from verbal cues to physical restraint (as a last resort, per Maine law). Every situation provides an opportunity to learn, for both students and staff, and we are always working to improve how we protect all students and staff. I trust our staff to follow their training and use their judgment in the best interests of those involved in these difficult situations.”
In October 2024, the Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Department released a statement about the incident, writing, “On October 4, 2024, at approximately 8:45 A.M. the Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Department received a report of a juvenile being assaulted on the school bus. A second assault involving the same juveniles occurred at the Mount Desert Island High School once the bus arrived. These assaults are currently being investigated by our agency. The Department is working closely with the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office, the Juvenile Community Corrections Office, and the MDI High School. We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding as we continue our investigation.”
Zboray has also said that “contact with students is guided by Maine’s Restraint and Seclusion Law.” The MDI High School’s policy would be the Restraint and Seclusion Policy.
Because both students were minors in 2024, we are not identifying them though they are identified in court documents.
UPDATE: We’ve changed the word “fight” to incident in three instances throughout this story at August 26, 2:30 p.m.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Maine state law concerning use of physical restraint
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