Substitute Special Education Teacher Charged with Lewd Acts on a Middle School Student
We expect our schools to protect our children, and that expectation is reasonable. Students with special needs, however, may be afforded additional protections as well at the state or federal level; that, too, is reasonable. What we don’t expect is that teachers will not only ignore those protections, but act in a way that is counterproductive to them.
And yet, it seems that stories about sexually abusive teachers in the LAUSD keep making their way into the news. This time, the alleged perpetrator is a 24-year-old substitute special education teacher named Joshua Jacob Estrada. He has been “charged with six counts of committing a lewd act on a child between November and December of this year, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” as reported by the Los Angeles Daily News. He is currently in jail awaiting arraignment (the next court date is scheduled for January 12th), and if convicted may spend up to 18 years in state prison. He would also be required to register as a sex offender.
Systemic problems with the LAUSD
There’s no easy way to discuss child sexual abuse. It’s not a rational sort of topic, and it shouldn’t be. And when the claim is against a school board or one of its employees, it can be even more challenging. We’ve gone up against the LAUSD on more than one occasion, and have won some significant victories against them. The problem is that it just keeps happening.
The LAUSD has more than 660,000 thousand students, spread out over more than 1,300 schools and centers; around 24,000 of those students are identified as having special needs. This upcoming year, it will employ more than 60,000 teachers, administrators and educational support personnel. It is a massive organization. With that kind of size and framework, there are those will shrug off accusations – even convictions – of sexual predators as though it’s to be expected: a few bad apples, no way to keep them all out, when you look at the percentages, and so on.
To that, we say this: the victims are children. Every. Single. Time. There is no possible excuse for allowing child predators to work in a school system – even one the size of a town. The LAUSD is charged with the education and well-being of its students; no other priorities can be higher than those.
At Taylor & Ring, we take those priorities seriously, and offer a path to justice for students and their families. Depending on the exact circumstances of the incident, you may have as little as six months to file a claim in civil court. Time really is of the essence.
Sexual abuse is about power over a victim. We offer solutions that allow you to take that power back for yourself. If your child was hurt by a teacher, a paraprofessional, an administrator or a staff member of the LAUSD, the Los Angeles child sexual abuse attorneys of Taylor & Ring can help you fight back. Please call us at 310.776.6390, or fill out our contact form, and schedule a free consultation with us today.
Serving clients throughout the Greater Los Angeles and Southern California area, we represent victims in a variety of civil litigation cases. If you or a loved one has been injured, turn to an experienced Los Angeles personal injury or sexual assault lawyer.
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