The mother of Jailyn Lawrence Jones, a 17-year-old Northwest High School student who was killed in 2022, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and the county school board, arguing the district didn’t do enough to protect the teen from bullying.
“Not only did Northwest High School fail to protect Jailyn Lawrence Jones in any way, MCPS made informed decisions and took steps which actively increased the danger to and created new dangers Jailyn could not abate,” the complaint filed Wednesday states. “As a result of MCPS’ conduct, Jailyn Lawrence Jones was bludgeoned to death by fellow students on or about January 24, 2022. MCPS could have prevented this tragedy.”
The case against the school district also names John and Jane Does, representing staff involved with the incident, and Montgomery County as a whole. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of nine charges, including wrongful death, federal and state rights violations and negligence. Among many points, the suit argues it was the school’s responsibility to protect Jones and the defendants didn’t follow policies and procedures concerning the protection of students.
Spokespeople for MCPS and the school board said the district and the board couldn’t comment on active litigation.
Jones, who was a junior at the Germantown high school, was found dead in a small creek in Germantown in 2022, with stab wounds and trauma to the head and torso, according to county police. Police charged a fellow student at Northwest with first-degree murder in connection with his death. According to the complaint, a jury acquitted the 17-year-old of charges in 2023.
The complaint says Jones suffered from an emotional disability, ADHD, PTSD and a mood disorder, which resulted in behavioral difficulties. Jones had been on Behavioral Improvement Plans and/or Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) since he enrolled in the school system in 2008, according to the complaint.
Jones attended Clarksburg High School in 2019, where he faced difficulties with social interactions and physically aggressive behavior, and was suspended twice for fighting and conflicts in the hallways, according to the lawsuit. While attending the school, students assaulted Jones twice, according to the complaint.
In February 2020, Jones brought a handgun and loaded magazine to school because other students in the Social Emotional Special Educational Services program “made disparaging comments about Jailyn’s recently deceased grandmother and threatened to shoot up his home,” the complaint states.
Jones was placed on a 10-day suspension and then expelled from Clarksburg in March 2020, but received educational services through an alternative educational program through MCPS. According to the lawsuit, the district returned Jones to a traditional high school environment over his mother’s objections, for the 2021-2022 school year.
Jones enrolled in Northwest on Aug. 25, 2021, and, according to the complaint, he was placed in classes with the same students who bullied him and had conflicts with him at Clarksburg. According to Moisette Intonya Sweat, a lawyer for Jones’ mother, all of the students were transferred to Northwest for a program for students with behavioral issues.
Jones continued to face issues, according to the complaint. On Jan. 18, 2022, Jones got in an altercation with the 17-year-old later charged in his death, whom Jones believed had stolen his electronic device. Jones was attempting to retrieve it when the altercation occurred. Due to the incident, Jones was suspended for two days on Jan. 20.
Sweat told MoCo360 the school suspended Jones without an IEP team meeting, which is required by law.
The complaint claims the 17-year-old “lured” Jones from his home on Jan. 21, 2022. Jones’s mother, Alexis Jones-McDaniel, filed a missing person’s report for Jones, which police refused because there was an open report from earlier in the month, according to the lawsuit. Sweat said Jones had run off earlier in the month after a disagreement with his mother.
Jones was found deceased in a small creek in the 18900 block of Grotto Lane on Jan. 24 — three days after he went missing. According to police, a review of doorbell service camera footage showed Jones leaving his family’s home at roughly 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 21. According to police, Jones was stabbed several times and had wounds to his head and torso. An autopsy conducted in Baltimore by the state medical examiner’s office determined his death was a homicide caused by “blunt and sharp force injuries,” police said in 2022.
In 2022, the 17-year-old was charged with first-degree murder and turned himself in. According to the complaint, a jury acquitted the teen of the criminal charges in November 2023. No one else appeared to be charged in the case, according to online court records.
Sweat said Jones-McDaniel believed that Jones “might very well still be alive today” if he hadn’t been suspended. Sweat said the family wants justice for Jones’s death and is seeking civil monetary damages to be determined by a jury.
“This is her last-ditch effort at getting any type of justice for the death of her son,” Sweat said of Jones-McDaniel. “Hopefully, through the loss of Jailyn, some change [develops] in our educational system, such that our students are better protected at school, and school officials take things more seriously when we do have troubled children who bully others.”
