Susan Mello said her son, a student with special needs, told her repeatedly that he did not feel safe at school and that she raised concerns with administrators long before the October 2025 attack. In her first public interview since the assault, Mello described waiting in her car outside the school every day from morning drop-off until after football practice, ready to help if her son needed to flee.

"He kept telling me I don't feel safe," Mello said. "I would sit in my car from the time I would drop him off 8 a.m. in the morning until after football practice in my vehicle the whole day without going anywhere just so if he ever needed to run that I would be here for him."

She said she filed multiple complaints about the bullying but felt dismissed. "I was filing complaints that he was being bullied, and they just kept denying it," she said.

The lawsuit, filed in Newport County Superior Court, stems from an October 2025 incident in which football players assaulted Mello's son inside a Rogers High School locker room. Video of the attack circulated online, showing students whipping him while others recorded. Four students were arrested in connection with the assault.

Mello said watching the video confirmed what she had been telling school officials for months. "It shouldn't have gotten to that point," she said. Asked whether she believed the school had done enough to protect her son, she answered, "No, not at all." She said officials dismissed her requests for additional safety measures, telling her at one point that her concerns were "all in my imagination."

The Newport School Committee commissioned an independent investigation into the incident and the school's handling of student safety concerns. In February 2026, the committee placed Rogers High School Principal Jared Vance on leave after reviewing the investigation's findings. The report identified serious concerns involving student safety, staff awareness, administrative oversight, and school culture, and made 27 recommendations. The district has not publicly released the full report, citing student privacy protections under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Mello's lawsuit seeks monetary damages and the release of the complete investigative report. She said making the findings public is essential to understanding how the school handled complaints leading up to the assault. "Because we really need to know the truth about what the findings were," she said. "You can't just leak out half a truth and expect it to be over."

The suit alleges school officials knew about the bullying and failed to take adequate steps to protect her son. A spokesperson for the city of Newport declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Mello said her son stopped attending Rogers High School after the assault and completed his senior year through private tutoring. More than a year later, she said, he continues to struggle with fear and difficulty sleeping.

While she wants accountability, Mello said her larger goal is preventing another student from experiencing the same harm. "The only real way is to protect the other kids [that are] coming up," she said. "And if that means I have to sue the district, then I have to sue the district."