LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A mother said she’s devastated after hearing a recording of a Clark County School District teacher allegedly threatening to assault her teenage son.
8 News Now is protecting the identity of the mother and her 14-year-old son because they fear for their safety. That family has filed a federal lawsuit against the Clark County School District.
“It just blew my mind. Like I never thought I would hear somebody say anything like that, like about my son,” the mother said in an exclusive interview. “Devastating to hear someone say that about my child. Someone that I birthed. That I love.”
The teenager was enrolled in the special education program at Desert Oasis High School. He started there in August of 2022, but then a few weeks later in November, the teen’s teacher reprimanded him.
Lagomarsino Law is representing the family and they identify that teacher as Courtney Billups.
“I’d love to get him in the room. I know I’d love to get him in the room and just beat them. I’ll pick him up and just keep throwing him. I just don’t like him,” Billups is recorded saying.
The law firm provided 8 News Now with several recordings they claim are of Billups.
At the time of the teacher’s comments, the 14-year-old, who is Black, was kicked out of class after calling another student who took off his hood the “N-word.”
“I was scared, I didn’t want to be in the classroom anymore. I thought he was going to do something to me,” the teenager told 8 News Now.
The family said they shared the recordings with Clark County School Police and Desert Oasis administrators. Yet, they claim nothing was done.
In the family’s federal lawsuit, they allege four claims against CCSD, including the emotional distress Billups inflected on the teen.
“When a kid comes home telling you, ‘oh yeah, my teacher said this,’ ‘He don’t like me.’ ‘He keeps saying, he’s going to throw me in the trunk. He’s going to call his family down here and kidnap me.’ All this stuff, ‘I’m a slave.’ Just believe your kids,” the teenager’s mother said.
The 14-year-old boy is no longer a student at Desert Oasis and is enrolled at another school.
The Clark County School District has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation and has previously declined to reveal the employment status of the teacher Courtney Billups.