A father has sued several staff members at his daughter’s school in Florida, alleging that the teenager was unlawfully strip-searched by staff, bullied and racially harassed by students, and the school authorities ignored multiple complaints made by the family.
In a lawsuit filed on Nov. 14, Nicholas Dayton claims Carrie Humphrys, the Assistant Principal at Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, strip-searched his daughter three times on different occasions in a clear violation of district policy.
The girl is identified as M.D. in the complaint filed in a Florida U.S. District Court of Orlando. The biracial teen is an honor student with a 3.8 GPA. According to a report by Atlanta Black Star, the girl moved to Melbourne in 2023 and entered L.B. Johnson Middle School, where she was regularly subjected to harassment from a male student who used misogynistic and racial slurs against female and other minority students.
Despite many complaints from students of color, and a formal complaint by Dayton, the Assistant Principal and other authorities failed to take any action, which was again a violation of school board policy/protocol.
As the harassment and bullying continued, Dayton filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Brevard County Schools for failing to protect students of color. The lawsuit claims that after this complaint, the school authorities saw the Daytons as “whistleblowers” and thus began the retaliation against the girl and her family.
M.D. began her ninth grade in August 2024, but the bullying continued. Coleman Watson, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, told Atlanta Black Star that the teen was called the N-word and “b—- monkey” by other students. The complaint says that the teachers gave her lower grades and doubted her work until she and her family proved that she completed the assignments herself.
Instead of taking action against the bullying students and the staff who failed to take action, the school went ahead to make shocking allegations against Dayton. In September 2024, school authorities filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Children and Families, alleging that M.D. was pregnant and that Dayton, her adoptive father, had molested her.
The parents immediately took M.D. to their pediatrician, who confirmed that she wasn’t pregnant. The girl also repeatedly denied being molested by her father or anyone else. However, by now, the rumor had spread like wildfire and Dayton’s reputation took a hit. Meanwhile, for the teen, the harassment and bullying at school intensified after the pregnancy rumors spread.
Complaining about racial harassment shouldn’t land you in a strip-search marathon, but this Florida high school apparently missed the memo.https://t.co/jkS4XwWWvr
— Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) December 1, 2025
The lawsuit claims that later that month, the Assistant Principal pulled M.D. from her class and took her into a room. The teen was then asked to lift her shirt and bra, exposing her chest. Humphrys, however, didn’t find any contraband.
M.D. was subjected to the same humiliation the next day. This time, she was asked to strip in Humphrys’ office and in the presence of a male staff member who allegedly leaned against the doorway and watched as M.D. was asked to expose and shake her b——. On this day as well, they didn’t find any wrongful items on her.
Ideally, the strip-search should only happen in the presence of an adult of the same gender, and the parents of the student must be notified of the same. Since both strip-searches violated school board policy/protocol, Dayton wrote an email to Brevard Superintendent Mark Rendell, which reads:
“We are livid!
Our daughter was made to lift her shirt, pull out her bra and shake in front of a man in a room.
The humiliation and indignity that the Eau Gallie Administration continues to heap upon our child is monstrous.”
The Daytons
The incident left a mark on the teen and began showing signs of trauma and anxiety. The complaint mentions that she even had started seeing a therapist.
A few days after the above email, school board officials met with Dayton and promised to correct the hostile environment and strictly follow the school board policy/protocol.
On Oct. 21, 2024, Dayton filed an incident report with the Brevard County School Board, complaining about the illegal strip search of his daughter and demanding an investigation. On the very same day, Humphrys did a third strip search on M.D., which was again in violation of board policy.
Ten days after the incident, Principal Barton admitted fault regarding the Oct. 21 strip-search and acknowledged that the staff didn’t follow school board policy/protocol “which requires that a search of a student’s person or intimate belongings be conducted by a staff member of the same gender, and only in exceptional circumstances when there is an immediate threat to the health or safety of the student or others.”
The Principal even apologized to the teen and her family, claims the lawsuit. Later, when asked what Humphrys was looking for during the strip-search, Watson says that she failed to give an answer. And eventually, the school started to deny that the strip-search ever happened.
Now, when the school board refused to investigate, Dayton was forced to file a complaint with the state Department of Education in November 2024. The lawsuit says that the girl “has suffered great emotional harm in the hands of the School board and staff … who never had M.D.’s best interests at heart.”
The lawsuit accuses Humphrys of violating the girl’s Fourth Amendment right against illegal search without reasonable suspicion. The school board has been accused of failing to train staff on the scope and limits of student searches. The lawsuit has also accused the school board of defamation by circulating false rumors of M.D.’s pregnancy and molestation at the hands of her father.
The family now seeks a jury trial and systematic reforms to ensure that Brevard Public Schools comply with student protection policies and constitutional standards. The plaintiffs are also seeking compensatory and punitive damages and legal costs.
Meanwhile, the school continues to deny that the strip-search ever happened. In a statement to Florida Today, Chief Strategic Communications Officer Janet Murnaghan said, “While we cannot comment on the specifics of that case, we want to be absolutely clear: Brevard Public Schools does not strip-search students. We have never conducted strip-searches, and we never will. The safety, dignity, and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.”
The defendants, including the Brevard County School Board, Carrie Humphrys, and 10 unnamed school employees, have 21 days after being served to respond.
The Daytons have moved M.D. to a new school.
