Redlands District Concealed Extent of Teacher’s Abuse of Students
For modern children, who have a myriad of afterschool activities and likely two working parents, the adult they spend the most time in a day with is probably a teacher. It is reprehensible when any adult betrays the responsibility owed to protect a child, but particularly so when the infringement is abuse of a sexual nature and the adult is in a position of power over the child.
In the Redlands Unified School District, not only did repeated sexual abuse of minors by teachers continue over a decade, but a new lawsuit alleges that the administration perpetuated the cycle by failing to remove teachers, instead disciplining students who spoke out to protest their violations.
History of abuse at Redlands USD
The Redlands Unified School District had already endured a series of damaging sexual abuse lawsuits and news coverage since 2013 when they paid a settlement to a student who had been sexually victimized by a teacher. But this wasn’t an isolated incident in the district. In 2014, a female teacher became pregnant after sexually assaulting three minor students, who also received multi-million-dollar settlements. During the 2014 investigation, a school official destroyed evidence directly in front of a detective. Three other faculty members have been embroiled in either substantiated sexual abuses of children or had cases settled outside of court through the district’s payments to families.
Harassment is sexual abuse
The latest case at Redlands Unified has been minimized by the district as mere words, but sexual harassment laws in California explicitly include “Verbal abuse of a sexual nature, graphic verbal commentaries about an individual’s body, sexually degrading words used to describe an individual.” Words can be just as damaging as actions, particularly for young or vulnerable students.
The teacher in question, special-education math teacher Kevin Kirkland, was reported to the administration as early as 2006 for inappropriate comments to students, yet the district claimed his file contained no accusations. In April of 2016 Kirkland was arrested for molesting four students, and served two years in prison. The new lawsuit dates back to incidents in 2012 and 2013, when students were discouraged by the school’s administration from reporting allegations about Kirkland to the police or press, and another was verbally sexually harassed by Kirkland.
The present lawsuit is aimed directly at the school’s administrative staff, who are alleged to have been informed about Kirkland’s infractions, then failed to act or respond in any way designed to prevent ongoing harassment. How many lawsuits, how many children harmed how many inappropriate behaviors from teachers will it take for the Redlands Unified School District to finally see that they have no reputation left to protect?
If you or your child has experienced any sexual abuse in a school or elsewhere, you need legal representation that can balance emotional needs with a strong sense of justice. At Taylor & Ring, you can be certain that our empathetic and tenacious Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys will provide you with legal counsel and guidance your family can trust. Call us today at 310.776.6390 or complete our contact form.
David Ring is a nationally renowned plaintiff’s personal injury trial attorney and has obtained multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of seriously-injured individuals or families who have lost a loved one in a tragic accident. For more than 20 years, he has represented victims of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, assault, molestation and sexual misconduct in cases against a variety of employers and entities, including schools, churches and youth organizations.
He prides himself on providing aggressive, yet compassionate representation for children who have been sexually abused and women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted. Read more about David M. Ring.