The complaints, filed in Marion County, name the Board of School Commissioners for the City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Public Schools and the Near Eastside Innovation School Corporation, the nonprofit that operates School 14 within the IPS network but independently of the district. They detail allegations of physical abuse and neglect involving three young children, all of whom have mental disabilities.

The teacher, Hunter Sesemann, was indicted in October on nine battery charges, six of them felonies. He began working for IPS on July 17, 2023, and was recommended for termination after school officials learned of the alleged abuses, which occurred in the fall of 2025. According to one complaint, he was allowed to resign on Nov. 12, 2025, the day before his scheduled firing date. He later took a job as a student support employee at St. Matthew Catholic School on the northeast side. After his indictment, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis placed him on administrative leave.

IPS spokesperson Marc Ransford did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an earlier statement, he said school officials "immediately removed" Sesemann from the classroom after learning of the allegations and notified police and the Indiana Department of Child Services.

One lawsuit centers on a 5-year-old kindergartner identified as James Doe, who attended preschool at School 14 and started kindergarten under Sesemann in August 2025. The complaint says the boy had been engaged with school and therapy activities but began crying before and after school and refusing to go to class after being placed in Sesemann's classroom. On Aug. 20, 2025, the boy suffered a dislocated shoulder while under Sesemann's care. Surveillance video did not capture how the injury occurred but showed the boy leaving the classroom holding his arm and crying, according to the complaint, which also accuses the nurse who treated him of failing to inform DCS. The following month, surveillance footage showed Sesemann dragging the boy three to four feet across the floor. When confronted by a school investigator, Sesemann described his actions as "playful" and claimed the boy was laughing, the suit alleges.

A second lawsuit involves another 5-year-old boy, also identified as James Doe, who the complaint says was "repeatedly subjected" to "inappropriate physical abuse, humiliation, and punitive confinement." On Sept. 29, 2025, Sesemann allegedly tripped the boy by extending his leg into the child's path, then laughed, grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him down the hallway toward the cafeteria. Days later, a staffer intervened after witnessing Sesemann repeatedly snapping a hair tie against the boy's head, according to the complaint. When the staffer told him to stop, Sesemann allegedly replied, "Then I will do it to you, you f------ loser." Two days later, on Oct. 6, 2025, the same staffer saw Sesemann push the boy so hard that he fell and hit his head. On other occasions, the complaint says, Sesemann placed the boy in a storage closet as punishment. The staffer reported Sesemann after the Oct. 6 incident, though it is unclear from the complaint whether earlier incidents were reported.

A third lawsuit does not accuse Sesemann of abuse but alleges that school officials neglected a 4-year-old girl identified as Jill Doe. According to the complaint, the girl repeatedly came home with her pull-up diapers and clothes saturated in urine, leading to concerns that staff were not changing her during the school day. She was later taken to Riley Hospital for Children and diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. The suit also cites an April 7, 2025, incident in which an older student hit the girl in the face while fighting with other students on a school bus, and alleges that on multiple occasions in October 2025 and April of this year her mother noticed bruises but could not get clear explanations from the school.

"Parents send their children to school trusting that educators will protect them, especially when those children may have difficulty communicating what is happening to them," attorney Tammy Meyer, who represents the children and their families, said in a statement after Sesemann's indictment. "That trust is fundamental, and allegations that it was violated demand serious scrutiny."

The lawsuits raise questions about oversight at School 14, which operates as an innovation school under a nonprofit board rather than direct district control, a governance arrangement that has grown more common in Indianapolis. They also come as IPS faces broader scrutiny over how it handles allegations of abuse against students with disabilities, who are among the district's most vulnerable populations and often least able to report mistreatment themselves.