The settlement with the Berryessa Union School District was announced Tuesday by the San Jose-based law firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, which secured the payout on behalf of three students. Two of them testified in the prosecution of Ronald Dean Gardner, who was sentenced in December to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a total of four students.
In 2021, students came forward again with abuse allegations after Assembly Bill 218, which was in effect from 2020 to 2022, granted a one-time extension of the statute of limitations. The lawsuit alleged that the district and school officials allowed Gardner to continue teaching and supervising students for years in the face of misconduct claims.
The plaintiffs also contended the district kept him employed with an emergency teaching credential that was renewed each year, and failed to give him the additional supervision required for someone in those circumstances. How does somebody remain a teacher for that long, year after year after year?
#school-district-settlement #sexual-abuse #teacher-misconduct #legal-proceedings #statute-of-limitations
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