SEATTLE — A former student who was punched by a Seattle Public Schools (SPS) teacher in 2018 will receive $8 million from the district as awarded by a grand jury on Thursday.

Zakaria Sheikhibrahim, now 21, sued the district after his math teacher punched him in the face twice at Meany Middle School in January 2018. The lawsuit states the district had been warned about the teacher's dangerous behavior for nearly a decade before the attack, and that Sheikhibrahim suffered a traumatic brain injury from the incident.

"This is a life-changing result for Zak and my hope is that it's a system-changing result for the school district," said Lara Hruska, Sheikhibrahim's attorney.

In June 2011, seven years before the teacher punched Sheikhibrahim, Principal Mark Perry sent an urgent email to the

See Full Page