MOHAWK, N.Y. (WKTV) - People in Mohawk say they are surprised to hear about the lawsuit filed against the Mohawk Central School District by Jacob and his father, Robert Sullivan.

They say school district officials did not protect Jacob from being harassed and threatened. Jacob, 14, is openly gay and claims he was the subject of non-stop harassment for two years.

"It sounds like a legitimate lawsuit," says Marian Pachman of Mohawk. "No child should have to go through what he has gone through."

Michael Bellstedt is a tenth grader at Jarvis Senior High School, the school where Jacob was allegedly harassed by students, as well as a teacher.

Bellstedt said bullying in the school is not a surprise to him.

"Most of it [bullying] is in study halls and stuff," he said.

Debbie Marley, a longtime resident of Mohawk says she was surprised to hear school officials allegedly hadn't taken quick action to stop the harassment.

"Usually the school is very supportive...I've never heard of anything like that around here," Marley says.

Jacob says that in June, a student pulled a knife on him in Spanish class and threatened to hang him from a flag pole. He says that since then, he has been afraid to return to school.

The lawsuit is set to go to court before school starts on September 8.