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Last week I wrote about the Los Angeles Unified School District’s failure to notify parents of reports of sexual abuse by teachers. Their failure to inform parents went to such an extreme that parents didn’t know that a teacher in their students’ school was suspected of abuse until the media reported on the arrests. The story is shocking and unacceptable, but these three incidents demonstrate failure on the part of one school district, so at least we can find solace in the fact that this is isolated, atypical behavior, right?

When Los Angeles school officials choose to protect their own image over the protection of the children they serve, they are mimicking the long time behavior of Catholic Bishops who for years kept quiet about clergy predators in order to prevent “scandal”. Indeed, when will we ever learn? Clearly, when there is even the slightest chance that children could be in harm’s way, parents, and the community, must be informed when, and why, a teacher has been removed from the classroom because of child molestation. 

This morning we argued in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court on behalf of sexual abuse survivor Jim Keenan. Pictured above are the three co-counsels: Mike Finnegan on the left, myself, and Jeff Anderson on the right. The case, John Doe 76c v. Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Diocese of Winona, is on appeal over whether evidence about repressed memories can be used in court. The case was dismissed by the District Court last year when the Judge ruled that experts cannot testify about repressed memories.