Students and parents are allegedly mistreated sexual assault and harassment involving students at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks.
The Conejo Valley Unified School District held a board meeting Wednesday night, where several people raised concerns about the alleged incident.
“It’s really heartbreaking to hear about the cases of assaults happening in our school community, and seeing them not doing anything about it is even more devastating,” said Westlake High senior Melaina Saab.
Some students and parents allegedly claimed that school administrators were not taking reports of sexual assault seriously, and in some cases they put the incident aside.
“There shouldn’t be any need to sit right next to me in class and be worried about meeting someone I’ve been sexually assaulted,” Saab said.
District officials told KTLA that an investigation into one of the IX complaints is ongoing, but said they have not received any additional formal complaints from students, staff or parents.
Conejo Valley Unified School District held a board meeting on April 16, 2025, expressing concern over the mistreatment of sexual assault and harassment incidents. (KTLA) Connejo Valley Unified School District, Thousand Oaks, California. (KTLA) Connejo Valley Unified School District, Thousand Oaks, California. (KTLA)
However, people familiar with allegations that the victim didn’t want to be identified as allegedly said to have been “not enough evidence,” or were told they were simply given a “slap on the wrist.”
They argued that the young women who were victimized were often worried about doing a big deal or were too traumatized to report the incident.
“We know that victims of sexual assault are traumatized, embarrassed, and fearful of retaliating for speaking,” said an interested community member at the board meeting.
School Board President Lisa Evans Powell said she wanted to recognize the strong testimony given by the speaker, although there is only a limited amount of what she can say after the public comments.
“I praise you for the courage to come here, and I want you to be sure you’ve heard it tonight,” Powell said.
In a statement to the KTLA, a spokesman for the Conejo Valley Unified School District said, “In compliance with federal law, there is a comprehensive complaint process to address sexual harassment reports and complaints, including conducting investigations by trained individuals.
The father who attended the meeting but did not want to be identified told KTLA’s Rachel Menitov that the situation was “emotional to me as my daughter was influenced by this.”
He said his daughter was a victim of sexual violence and that the school leader was a victim of accusations of self-satisfaction.
“School administrators need to replace those who are making decisions that are not entirely, not entirely, but not entirely, that do not benefit the safety of students,” he said.
District officials emphasized that it is available to staff to help students report abuse, and that parents or students can report incidents anonymously through the online school tip line.
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