A 32-year-old woman is suing the Covina-Valley Unified School District, alleging she was sexually abused as a minor by a middle school teacher and that the administration ignored red flags that she was a victim of his transgressions.
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane J.R. Doe in the West Covina Superior Court lawsuit that also names as a defendant the former teacher, Richard Jadrich. The suit alleges sexual battery and harassment, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and various causes of action for negligence.
“Instead of disciplining or reporting Jadrich to law enforcement or to the (Los Angeles County) Department of Social Services as required by law, (the) CVUSD did nothing and Jadrich continued to sexually abuse (Doe),” the suit alleges.
A CVUSD representative did not reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.
Doe seeks unspecified compensatory damages against both defendants as well as punitive damages against Jadrich. Doe is represented by attorney Gloria Allred’s law firm.
According to her suit, Doe was 12 years old when Jadrich began to groom her during the 2006-07 school year at Sierra Vista Middle School.
Jadrich allegedly encouraged the plaintiff to audition for a summer band, which she did successfully, and he also began to give her long, lingering hugs in his classroom and kisses on the cheek, the suit states. In spring 2007, Doe allegedly was sexually abused multiple times in Jadrich’s classroom during school hours, the suit claims.
When a friend of Doe told her English teacher that she was worried about the amount of time the plaintiff and Jadrich were spending together, the teacher scolded the student and dismissed her concerns, the suit states. Questioned by the school principal whether anything “inappropriate” was going on between her and Jadrich, a “scared” Doe “did not respond affirmatively,” the suit further states.
Doe says she did not fully understand that she was a victim of sexual abuse by Jadrich until 2024, when she reported what happened to her to Covina police, who arrested the 68-year-old last Sept. 11 on suspicion of unlawful sexual acts with a minor.