JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley School District officials on Monday responded to a federal lawsuit filed by the parents of a student alleging he was tormented and suffered trauma as a result of false sexual assault allegations.

Katherine Huttinger, the district’s media support specialist, said in a statement that district officials believe the lawsuit “is without merit.”

“We have followed all applicable laws, and we will vigorously defend ourselves throughout the process,” she wrote.

The lawsuit was filed last week by Michael Flood Jr., a district teacher, and his wife, Alecia Flood, of Zelienople, in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. It claims their son, listed as T.F., a minor at the time, was tormented and suffered physical and psychological trauma as a result of two false sexual assault allegations from other students at the school beginning in 2017.

Named as defendants in the suit in addition to the district are Megan Villegas, T.F’s female supervisor at a swimming pool where he worked as a lifeguard; her parents; four minor Seneca Valley Intermediate High School students listed as K.S., C.S., E.S. and H.R.; their parents; an assistant principal; guidance counselors; the Butler County District Attorney’s Office and the county.

The suit calls Villegas and the four students “mean girls” and argues that they twice conspired in person and through electronic communication to falsely accuse T.F. of sexual assault. He was charged with indecent assault and two counts of harassment in the first incident, and indecent assault, forcible compulsion, criminal trespass and simple assault in the second. He was arrested at the school and placed in leg and wrist shackles, the suit states.

T.F. was later placed on house arrest, and remained so until the Floods obtained social media messages showing the girls had lied about the allegations, the lawsuit said. The charges were dropped in August, and T.F. was released from court supervision in September.

Huttinger’s statement Monday confirmed the school still had not been officially served with lawsuit papers, but was made aware of it through media attention. She wrote the district will not comment further on the lawsuit, saying it is “ongoing litigation” and “federal privacy laws protect student information.”

Huttinger wrote the school’s first priority is “the safety and well-being of our students, staff, parents and volunteers who enter our buildings.”

The school has policies and procedures in place to protect individuals, the statement reads. It did not specify those policies.

None of the parents involved in the lawsuit responded to a request for comment Monday, nor did the Floods’ attorney, Craig Fishman.