MILTON – A pending lawsuit has tightened the lips of many Milton officials and prevented them from speaking about the district’s efforts to grapple with revelations about the school’s failure to respond properly to hazing.

Officials from Milton High School Co-principal Anne Blake to board Vice Chairwoman Karen LaFond have declined interview requests from the Burlington Free Press, citing advice of their lawyers and ongoing litigation.

The case in question was brought by the parents of Jordan Preavy, the Milton High School teenager who died by suicide in 2012. Preavy’s parents, Tracy Stopford and Sean Preavy, accused the school of failing in its responsibility to protect their son, leading to his suicide.

The School Board had commissioned Dan Troidl, a retired state trooper, to look into hazing culture. Troidl found school officials failed to comply with the district’s hazing policies. His report included actions taken by the district after Preavy’s death; the lawsuit itself concerns only events that happened leading up to Preavy’s suicide.

Pietro Lynn, who is defending the district, said there is no evidence to show that the school should have known Preavy was in danger of being hazed.

The lawyer representing Preavy’s parents, Robert Appel, said his clients are in search of accountability, not money. Though the students who assaulted Preavy have been tried and convicted, Appel said his clients still feel the adults need to be held accountable.

Tracy Stopford, second from left, speaks outside a Burlington courtroom earlier this year. She is flanked by Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan, left, Karen Preavy and Sean Preavy. (Photo: ELIZABETH MURRAY/FREE PRESS FILE)

The lawsuit originally named Blake and former Superintendent John Barone as defendants, but a state law prevents municipal employees from being sued as individuals if they were acting in their official capacities.

Lynn recently has filed a motion for summary judgment asking the court to dismiss the case. In addition to stating that the school did not fail Preavy, he pointed to other possible factors in the teenager’s suicide.

Those factors include his history of counseling for marijuana issues and tension within his family.

Appel, who is confident the lawsuit will survive to be heard by a jury, called Lynn’s inclusion of Preavy’s substance-abuse issues and family problems “unconscionable.”

“I’m curious as to how the jury will respond to that,” he said.

Appel plans to fight Lynn’s motion claiming he has no case. The case is being heard in Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington.

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