"A South Bay school district agreed to pay $5.75 million to settle claims that a teacher impregnated a 15-year-old student at Leigh High School during a long-running illegal sexual relationship, and then forced her to have an abortion. The Campbell Union High School District's payout comes nearly two years after the allegations surfaced against Shawn Thomas, a physical education and social science teacher who also worked as a football and track coach at Los Gatos High School."
"The former student's attorney said the payout represented a measure of justice for the former student, now in her late 30s, and sends a clear message that schools must take their duty to safeguard students seriously. After all these years, my client is finally being vindicated and the school district is finally being held accountable, said the attorney, Lauren Cerri. Her entire life was derailed because no one listed to her, and no one believed her."
Campbell Union High School District agreed to pay $5.75 million to settle claims that a teacher impregnated a 15-year-old Leigh High School student and forced her to have an abortion. The allegations involve Shawn Thomas, a physical education and social science teacher and coach, who allegedly groomed the student during the 2002–2003 school year. The alleged abuse occurred in the early 2000s and surfaced decades later after the student's sister urged her to go to authorities. Thomas was arrested in March 2024 and faces charges including rape, sexual penetration of a minor, and lewd and lascivious acts. The lawsuit alleges grooming, inappropriate touching, requests for the student to wear a skirt, driving her around, sexual encounters at multiple locations, and claims the dean blamed the student upon learning of the pregnancy.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]