A 15-year-old Portage High School student has notified school officials of her intention to file a lawsuit seeking $700,000 for the repeated sexual abuse and threats she claims to have suffered from three male students on her school bus.

The tort claim, which is a required precursor to suing a public entity such as a school system, claims the district knew or should have known about past problems on the bus and yet failed to respond by equipping the bus with an observation camera like on other buses.

"The Portage school system did not properly investigate this matter and turned a 'blind eye' to the situation," according to the tort claim filed on behalf of the girl by attorney Larry Rogers.

The district is further faulted for failing to offer its counseling services to the girl after the allegations came to light in February.

The bus driver, Terry Burch, who has since been fired and charged with felony child neglect, is also faulted in the claim for failing to keep a proper watch over and order among the students in his care.

School Superintendent Michael Berta said Monday he had not seen the tort claim and it would not be appropriate for him to comment on pending litigation anyway.

When asked in March about the girl's claims involving the school system, he said the schools follow a progressive disciplinary approach aimed at improving a student's behavior, unless the offense is serious enough to warrant expulsion.

The female student, who The Times interviewed for a story in March, states in the tort claim the boys on her bus repeatedly grabbed her breasts and made other unwanted sexual advances. She said the boys would expose themselves and on one occasion, pushed a girl's head toward a boy's exposed genitals.

The girl said the boys threatened to kill her if she reported the activity. She said she gave a note to Burch anyway and one of the boys renewed his death threat after receiving detention for his misconduct.

The girl had told The Times that she was just three rows away from the bus driver while the abuse was taking place.

The two 17-year-old boys and 16-year-old boy charged with the offenses remain in custody at the county juvenile detention center. Prosecutors are seeking to waive the boys to adult court and hearings are set for June 8 and 10.