Ohio Principal Named In Bullying Lawsuit Announces Resignation

A school principal in Fairfield who is named in a federal bullying lawsuit over a student's suicide is leaving his job. Lincoln Butts says he is resigning next month for "personal reasons." He is among several people named in the lawsuit alleging 13-year-old Emilie Olsen was not protected by school district officials from bullying. Olsen's parents filed the federal lawsuit last year. According to the suit, Olsen, an Asian-American, was "continually bullied, harassed, assaulted, battered and discriminated against in school, and further bullied and harassed online because of her race, national origin and gender, as well as her association with Caucasian students and her perceived sexual orientation and practices." Defendants include Butts, superintendent Paul Otten,  intermediate school principal Jeff Madden and other staff, along with 18 unnamed students. The bullying started when Olsen was a fifth grader at Fairfield Intermediate School and continued through the seventh grade at Fairfield Middle School, the suit alleges.