City sued for $45M

REVERE – A Beachmont School teacher named last year in a federal lawsuit is now the target of a state sexual harassment complaint filed by the family of a 15-year-old student.A federal judge dismissed the complaint against Edward Winters and the Revere school system, saying the proper place for its review was in a state high court.As of Tuesday, City Solicitor Paul Capizzi had yet to receive a copy of the complaint filed by the Winthrop teenager’s family in Suffolk Superior Court.”Without seeing what the complaint says, we’re not at liberty to comment on it,” Capizzi said.The federal complaint stated that the Winthrop teenager “was caused to suffer for months extreme emotional distress to the humiliation, taunts, indignities and verbal abuse by Winters.”It claims Winters called the teen four derogatory names including “gay,” “flamer” and “queer” in 2004 and 2005 when the teen was enrolled in a middle school computer course taught by Winters.According to the complaint, the teen “was so distraught over Winters’ abuse that he required days of hospitalization because of suicidal ideations” in December 2004.The complaint states that one of the teen’s classmates complained in May 2005 to a guidance counselor about Winters’ “abusive conduct.” John Laymon, the attorney for the teen and his mother, said the Superior Court complaint includes additional allegations.”The more we look into this the more we learn about Mr. Winters’ background. We believe he did this with other students,” Laymon said, adding, “We believe the Revere public schools could have done something a lot earlier.”The federal complaint states school officials “terminated Winters employment” in the wake of the May 2005 complaint, but School Superintendent Paul Dakin said the teacher retired in 2006.Dakin declined to comment on the Superior Court complaint or the federal complaint and referred questions to Capizzi. Attempts to reach Winters were unsuccessful. The city has three weeks to respond to the state complaint after receiving a copy of it.