The lawsuit alleges the school knew about similar incidents before this investigation.
SAN ANTONIO — Central Catholic High School is being sued by the family of two teenage boys who were allegedly bullied and sexually harassed by soccer team members.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday morning, alleged that Central Catholic High School failed to protect the two boys from harassment, bullying, battery, physical assault, sexual assault and hazing.
According to the document, the teachers and administrators took no actions following the alleged assault and abuse committed on the victims and that these actions have been a “long standing problem” in school campuses and sports programs.
The lawsuit stated that “some students were shown praise after the administration having knowledge of their alleged deviant actions and failure to act that resulted in harm to other students.”
“Central Catholic and its Staff, Coaches, and Agents knew or should have known that over time the hazing traditions and rites of passage acts had developed into a culture of ‘Hazing on Steroids’, that was violent, intimidating, and included sexual abuse, and extreme mental abuse resulting in degradation, humiliation, embarrassment, and at times causing physical and mental illnesses to individuals.”
Multiple administrators and staff members have been named in the lawsuit, including Central Catholic High School Principal Lee Hernandez, athletic director Edward Ybarra and head soccer coach Bartholomew Valerio. Three of the boys’ former teammates have also been named as defendants. The teammates were not named due to being minors.
The plaintiffs are seeking $1,000,000 in monetary relief.
According to the lawsuit, Central Catholic High School had knowledge about similar incidents that occurred before April 2025 and “didn’t do anything to create and enforce a zero tolerance policy on bullying and hazing and other violent acts.”
The school had previously said they immediately opened their own investigation into the claims, leading to two students being expelled from the campus and three others had “appropriate disciplinary actions taken based on their actions revealed in the investigation.”
One of the expelled students was a senior and will now not be allowed to graduate from the school.
The family believes future prospective students are being told a “false image” of the prestigious high school campus.
“Central Catholic markets the school to prospective students using the so-called “brotherhood” as a selling point to recruit innocent minor children at tender ages to append their institution while failing to tell the students and parents about the out-of-control bullying and hazing problems that are prevalent at the school and have been for years.”