The parent of a former Mars Primary School student is suing several individuals at the Mars School District who she says mistreated her son or tried to have him placed in an off-site location due to his disabilities.

Identified only as “K.B.” in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, the parent seeks unspecified punitive damages, future private school tuition and payment of legal fees from the district.

Claims in the suit against then-primary school Principal Adam Kostewicz, who is now the Mars Centennial School principal, a guidance counselor, a school psychologist and the director of special education and all nine school board members, include “the systematic and continuous psychological, physical and emotional abuse of a 7-year-old disabled child, thereby preventing the child from having free access to public education.”

Among the suit’s 20 counts are wrongful expulsion from school, assault and battery by Kostewicz, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of the student’s civil rights, and a hostile learning environment.

The suit says the parent advised district officials that her child was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but “the school district failed to take any action whatsoever to protect (the child’s) interests or engage in evaluation.

“To the contrary,” the suit reads, “the school district has taken adverse action against (the student) as the result of his disability.”

It says in addition to dragging their feet on creating an individualized education plan for the student as required by state school code, that Kostewicz forcibly grabbed the student by the arm and dragged him down a hallway in front of his classmates, that Kostewicz “grabbed (the boy) by the shoulders and pressed down on the child’s torso to cause pain and discomfort,” and had a police officer from the Adams Township Police Department escort the student to his bus in front of all the school’s students as they lined up to catch their buses at the end of the day.

“This horrific incident served its purpose of further banishing (the boy) from the school environment because of his disability,” the suit reads.

It goes on to allege that district officials didn’t contact parents about suspensions or times the child was isolated in a “safe room” for three hours or more in the school, tried to have the student transferred to off-site school, and psychologically abused the student continuously and ignored his disabilities “for the purpose of denying the child free appropriate public education as required by federal law.”

Regarding the expulsion, the suit said that the district alleged that on Oct. 27, 2015, the student pushed another student, kicked a teacher and overturned furniture in a room.

The suit accuses the district of making up the allegation that the child kicked a teacher.

The suit said the student was expelled after the outburst, “but no formal notification was ever given to (the parent) that the school board approved the expulsion as required by Pennsylvania law.”

After a hearing before a state special education hearing officer who vacated the expulsion, the matter proceeded to federal court. A judge in June 2015 remanded the matter back to another special education hearing to determine whether a free appropriate public education had been denied to the child.

After eight days of hearings, the suit said, “the hearing officer found that the school district acted with deliberate indifference in its acts and omissions ... and the (district) has discriminated with deliberate indifference” in violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and state school code.

As a result, the student was awarded compensatory education services from the district, reimbursement for private tutoring expenses from Nov. and Dec. 2014, and tuition reimbursement at a private school for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years.

The suit stated that the child cringed in fear at his private school if a teacher innocently touched him on the back,

“This is directly related to the assaults by the principal and other Mars School District staff physically restraining and assaulting the child,” the suit states.

In the most egregious counts, the child’s parents are asking for a judgment in excess of $75,000 each, and more than $500,000 in punitive damages.

Attorney Tom Breth, who is representing the school district in the case, said on Monday he had not been served with the suit and could not comment on it.

Attorney John Corcoran of Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace in Pittsburgh, who is representing the child’s parents, said he does not know when the case will be served on the district.