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Five California women sued the Fresno County School System on Wednesday, alleging that officials later alleged they were sexually assaulted by a sophomore teacher convicted of similar abuse.
The lawsuit against Clovis Unified Schuliidection is in the tide of sexual abuse lawsuits where lawmakers are screaming to stop fraud.
The most recent cases date back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Samantha Munoz, a 28-year-old mother now 28, is among those who claim to have been abused by then-Funcher Creek Elementary School teacher Nenyang.
Munoz argues in the lawsuit that Yang began abusing her in 2004, when he was a seven-year-old student. By then, the girls say they had been complaining about Yang for many years to officials at Clovis Unified School District, according to the lawsuit. The teacher was eventually arrested in 2012 for making child pornography, and spent the past decade in federal prisons in San Pedro.
“Clovis Unified was protecting this predator,” says Muñoz. “They kept teaching him at that school, knowing he was him. [assaulting students]. ”
The Times does not usually identify victims of sexual assault, but Munoz and two of her four co-deputy co-directors said they wanted to publicly tell them what happened.
Kelly Avants, a spokesman for Clovis Unified, said the district has not yet received notice of the lawsuit.
“We haven’t filed a lawsuit yet, but we’ll review it when we’re offered and respond accordingly,” Avants said.
The office of the public defense attorney who represented Yang in his criminal case introduced the question to the U.S. prosecutors in the Eastern District of California. A spokesman for the office said he could not provide comment.
“When the teacher saw him showing me child porn on the phone, school officials questioned me and then encouraged me not to say anything,” Munoz said. “I was left in his classroom and he continued to abuse me.”
The Fresno incident follows a $4 billion settlement this spring over sexual abuse of juvenile facilities, groups and foster parents in LA County.
Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, announced Tuesday it would sell up to $500 million in bonds to cover liability for anticipated sexual abuse.
“There is a huge cost pressure on the district,” said Michael Fein, director of California’s fiscal crisis and management support team, in January, in which state education institutions could be liable for $2 billion to $3 billion for past sexual misconduct. “No matter what, money is coming from current resources.”
The payment comes from a series of recent changes in California’s restrictions on child sexual assault. Starting with Congressional Bill 218 in 2019, the state opened a short window for allegations dating back to 1940. The law forever extended the deadline for victims to file child sexual abuse claims until age 40.
“There’s definitely a school district out there that the state feels like it should change its laws and the state should pay,” Fein said.
Some in the debate argue that abusers should be held liable for misconduct rather than just cash-bound schools.
In most California school districts, funds can come from a public institution’s risk pool, a collective pot that multiple agencies pay to cover liabilities such as health insurance and workers’ compensation.
Many pools are evaluating members’ “retrospective premiums” to cover sexual abuse cases that have been touched by changes in the law, Fein said. That is, even unsued schools face higher operating costs.
“It affects the classroom, whether they have a bill or not, because they have to pay a retroactive premium in some way,” he said. “If they were in the pool, they’re on the hook.”
In its report, agencies recommended alternative ways for states and school districts to cover liabilities caused by law. This includes a revised form of receiver for institutions that cannot pay, a new state victim compensation fund and specific measures to stop abuse.
The latter has been eagerly adopted by California lawmakers, including California Senator Sasha Rene Perez (D-Alhambra). However, other proposals have been ignored, Fein said.
“There is no bill carrying the remaining recommendations,” he said.
After spending months trying to understand the size and magnitude of responsibility faced by California institutions, stories like Clovis’ unified lawsuits were plagued by him, Fine said.
“It’s emotionally overwhelming,” he said.
The plaintiffs in the Clovis case described almost identical abuse dating back to 1998, when Yang was still a student teacher.
According to a complaint on Wednesday, then-alumni Tiffany Skelkil told Franchisee’s Principal, Vice Principal and school counselor that Yang had groped her and forced her to have oral sex.
“In response, [officials] “Tiffany took the position of lying and referred her to psychological treatment,” the lawsuit allegedly.
Despite laws dating back to the 1980s when abuses were required to report, school officials kept the allegations quiet and failed to investigate Yang, the lawsuit said.
“Instead of reporting Yang and protecting the students, school officials denounced the girls, appearing to be the other way around, allowing Yang to abuse the students for more than a decade,” said Jason Amara, the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Eventually, Yang was involved in a Central California internet crime against the Children Children Task Force, a partnership between the Clovis Police Department and the Homeland Security Investigation.
For Munoz, the teacher’s belief was cold comfort. She believes that talking about her experiences will encourage other victims to move forward, but she is now facing a painful decision on whether to send her non-verbal 4-year-old child for early intervention services at the same elementary school where her suit claims her nightmare has begun.
“Why do you want to drop your son off where there are nothing but bad memories?” said the mother. “It’s like signing the devil into my life again.”
“I just need to be responsible for who protected them,” Munoz said.
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