PALMDALE – A former special needs student at Knight High School who alleged he was sexually abused by another student has reached a $1.1 million settlement with the Antelope Valley Union High School District.
According to the complaint filed in June 2018 in Antelope Valley Superior Court, the staff at Knight High School told the plaintiff’s mother that her special needs child, identified in the complaint only as J.O. Doe, was being sexually molested on his school bus by another student.
The school did not report the other student to the police or take any disciplinary action against him, but instead suspended the plaintiff for three days, according to the complaint.
“This settlement is one more sad example of the culture of abuse that exists within AVUHSD …,” plaintiff’s attorney Saul Wolf said. “Instead of meeting their legal and moral obligations to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement, they punished the victim and tried to silence his mother. These public entities must protect the children entrusted to their care, rather than enabling the abusers.”
In February, Manly Stewart & Finaldi, the law firm that represented the plaintiff, reached a $5 million settlement with the AVUHSD in a case brought by another former district student who alleged she was sexually abused by former Palmdale High School coach Marcus Williams and became pregnant with his child.
Clearwater Drug Rehab says
Yeah, it’s all not fun at all. It is a pity that these public organizations do nothing with this unfortunately and even vice versa. It is terrible that there are a lot of such cases in the country and I would like to somehow think about how to stop all this. Why do children have such a thirst for violence in general. I don’t think it was a good idea to hide it at all and not punish the culprit. What happened to people who hide this. Why not immediately report it to local law enforcement agencies. This often has bad consequences.