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VOL. 8, , NO. 40
PUSD EMPLOYEE PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE YEARS AFTER ‘NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION’
The incident occurred at Pasadena High School in 2015. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
P
asadena Unified School District (PUSD) has had more than its fair share of bad news in the past few years: like declining enrollment and campus closures. However, recently a disturbing story caught our attention when a custodial worker at PUSD was implicated in an inappropriate situation involving minors. A California Superior Court jury recently awarded $887,416 to a young woman who was coerced into an on-campus sexual encounter facilitated by an employee of PUSD. The case centers on “A.S.” a 14-year old minor high school student at the time of the occurrence on Jan. 13, 2015
at Pasadena High School in a nine-page complaint filed on Jan. 6, 2019. The law firm retained by the minor’s parent—Ivie, McNeill, Wyatt, Purcell & Diggs (IMW)—obtained a jury verdict of $887,416.00 against PUSD on Sept. 11, 2019 after a one week trial in Van Nuys. The jurors voted 11-1 in favor of the plaintiff. The trial was conducted by W. Keith Wyatt and Kristen Wyatt from IMW. Pasadena Independent contacted the director, W. Keith Wyatt, Esq., for details on the case and subsequent ruling: “The case involved claims of negligent supervision by school district personnel which resulted in a sexual encounter between plaintiff and another student on the campus of Pasadena High School (PHS) on Jan. 13, 2015. Plaintiff A.S. was a 14 year-old freshman at PHS when she participated in an inappropriate sexual encounter
with an older (17 years old) male student in an auditorium at the school. The encounter included sexual intercourse. “Plaintiff did not contend that she was raped, but she did contend that she was pressured into engaging in the sexual encounter by the male student and by PHS personnel. A PHS security officer, Billy Coleman, facilitated the sexual encounter by removing plaintiff from her 5th period class, taking plaintiff to the auditorium to meet the male student, and opening a locked auditorium where the male student was waiting for plaintiff. “The male student had made arrangements with the school security officer to get plaintiff out of class and bring plaintiff to him. The school security officer had a reputation for facilitating inappropriate conduct by students. “PUSD admitted that it negligently
caused plaintiff ’s damages sustained as a result of the Jan. 13, 2015 incident and that plaintiff did not have any comparative fault or causation for her damages. “As a result of the incident, both students were suspended from school. However, plaintiff became the victim of threats, bullying, and slander from other students such that she feared returning to a regular high school environment. She completed her high school education at an alternative school. “IMW contended that plaintiff lost four years of the important social interaction and maturity which come from having a normal, four-year high school experience. IMW also contended that plaintiff experienced a loss of trust from the institutional betrayal which caused the incident. The jury SEE ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE PAGE 13