Parents say Pasadena schools ignored ‘red flags’ of child molestation

The Pasadena Unified School District is being sued on behalf of seven children, mostly girls now 9 to 11 years old, alleging they were sexually abused by a teacher at Cleveland Elementary School.

The lawsuit also includes many of the children’s parents as plaintiffs. The complaint, filed Oct. 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress and seeks unspecified damages.

Pasadena Unified Associate Superintendent Mercy Santoro said Friday that the district had not yet been served with the lawsuit. She said the teacher was placed on paid administrative leave in March.

According to the lawsuit, the educator was presented to the public as a “highly qualified teacher and counselor who would assist the minors with working through academic and personal issues faced.”

Instead, he used his “position of authority and trust over the minors to sexually harass, molest and abuse them,” the suit alleges.

Multiple “red flags” should have alerted the PUSD about the teacher’s alleged abuses, including his inappropriate touching of children and the fondling of them “in a sexual manner,” according to the plaintiffs.

The suit says the students and their parents “discovered the true nature of what had happened at Cleveland” in March.

— City News Service