The ju judge awarded $48 million to six former students at South El Monte Elementary School who were sexually abused by longtime teachers.
Students, ages 8 to 10 at the time of the abuse, had reported that their teacher, Joseph Bardenebro, had inappropriately touched, assaulted or harassed them while attending Miramonte Elementary School. The abuse occurred between the early 2000s and 2017.
Monday’s verdict came after the student’s one month trial with evidence that the student’s lawyer had warnings of inappropriate behavior by Valde Nebro, whom he dated in the 1990s, but did not act.
Baldenebro, 62, was convicted in 2018 of indecent or perverted behaviour with a child and sentenced to eight years in prison. A second criminal charge related to child sexual abuse was filed against him in 2022, resulting in a non-contest plea in the summer of 2024, where he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He is eligible for parole in 2031, according to state prison records.
Nick Laurie, one of the lawyers representing former students for the district, said: “There were so many red flags. After warning the principal who ignored it, the people who didn’t do anything and actually covered it.”
A Mountain View School District lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In a statement, the district said it was “explicitly condemning all sorts of abuse and deeply saddened by the harm caused to students and the community.”
The district had allowed negative supervision of Barde Nebro, who had taught in the district for over 20 years, but claimed it was Barde Nebro who caused harm to students rather than the district.
According to court documents, the oldest student of the former students said she was nine years old at the time of abuse in Valde Nebro classes from 2002 to 2004 between her third and fourth grades.
She recounted growing up close with Baldenebro, saying he suggested he could become her “Godparent,” according to the amended lawsuit filed in the suit.
Students say they know that Balden Nebro is a “godic figure” to others, and court documents explain the benefits that Balden Bro gave to his hero: entertainment parks, lunch, clothes, CDs, trips to after-school parties.
Lawyer Laurie said Tuesday that he described Valde Nebro as the godfather of 24 students over the year.
In court documents, students said after entering fourth grade, Balde Nebro would summon her to sit on her lap and touch her and kiss her after school. “He said he loved her and would draw him firmly towards him,” the student’s lawyer wrote in a summary of the 2021 trial.
In 2004, the student spoke to the then principal about his unpleasant experience with Barde Nebro. Around that time, the student, her parents, and Bardenebro met with the principal. Baldenebro “accused her of overreacting, and he’s just doing it as an act of love and attention,” according to court documents.
The principal said, “I convinced my parents that this behavior by Balden Nebro was normal as she was her godfather.”
The ju apprentice awarded the students $9 million out of the second largest amount of $48 million verdict.
Other former students said they were exposed to unnecessary hugs, kisses and putts on their butts, according to a trial summary submitted by their lawyers. One student said that Balde Nebro loved her genitals and then raped her in his classroom. Students not disclosed by The Times were awarded $16.5 million.
Of the overall verdict, the ju apprentice held the Mountain View School District, which is liable for just over $36 million. Baldenebro will take responsibility for the rest of the matter, but it is unlikely to pay.
District spokesperson Jocelyn Rios said he could not say whether all or part of the verdict will be covered by the district’s insurance company, or whether other district funds will be tapped to pay it.
In a statement, the district said it had enacted a “meaning step…” “with the aim of preventing future incidents from being detected or reported.”
The Steps will be the annual “see: be heard” effort called the “Recognition and Prevention of Sexual Assault and Abuse Overall Average” program.
Before the trial, the district’s lawyers had offered a settlement of about $100,000 per student, Laurie said.
“From the start of this case, the school district and its attorneys devalued what these victims had experienced and minimized what happened to them,” said Michael Carrillo, the lead lawyer in the case representing former students. “The ju-deputy saw all of that.”
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