Washington Township Schools Pay $245,000 to Four North Central Students Over Drama Teacher's Abuse

Nathan Shewell taught drama and directed the theater program at North Central High School in Indianapolis, part of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township. He held the job from 2013 until the district fired him in 2020. In May 2022, four of his former students filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Indiana, claiming that administrators had been warned about his behavior for years and let it continue.

The complaint laid out a pattern of grooming that, the plaintiffs said, began when some of them were as young as fourteen. It alleged that Shewell used acting exercises to make female students reenact past trauma, led students into a closet to act out sexual assaults, commented on their bodies, and subjected them to unwanted physical contact. The filing put it plainly: "Shewell preyed on these young women, grooming them from age fourteen to become sexual partners."

All four plaintiffs were former female students who said the conduct caused lasting harm. One sued under her own name; the other three proceeded as Jane Does. Jeff Gibson, an attorney with Wagner Reese in Carmel, represented them together with Texas lawyer Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who has handled sexual abuse cases nationally.

Much of the case centered on what school officials knew. The plaintiffs alleged that staff, including then-principal Evans Branigan III, were aware of complaints about Shewell as early as 2014 and did, in the words of the complaint, "absolutely nothing." When parents raised concerns about his relationships with students, the lawsuit said, Branigan told them to "leave the theater program alone."

On March 22, 2023, the Washington Township school board approved a settlement at a public meeting, paying the four plaintiffs a combined $245,000. The individual shares ranged from $20,250 to $87,000. The agreement ended every claim against the district before the case reached a jury. Gibson declined to comment on the resolution.

The district did not concede fault. The settlement states that it "continues to deny any liability toward the plaintiffs," and the plaintiffs agreed not to disclose the financial terms or publicly disparage the district. Because the matter resolved by agreement rather than trial, no verdict existed to appeal or reduce.