A Promise Betrayed: Confronting Sexual Abuse in Southern California Schools

Southern California is often romanticized for its year-round sunshine, stunning beaches, and its reputation as a place where dreams are made. From an early age, children here and around the nation are told that with hard work, education, and integrity, anything is possible. The Golden State embodies hope, ambition, and opportunity.

But what happens when that promise is broken before it even begins?

For some children, the very institutions meant to protect them – schools, sports programs, and youth organizations – become places of trauma. When a trusted teacher, coach, or counselor abuses that trust, it has lasting effects. It can derail a child’s sense of safety, self-worth, and their future.

The recent case of David Lane Braff, Jr., brings this tragic reality into focus. From 2015 to 2019, Braff served as a school counselor at McKevett Elementary School in Ventura County. In November 2024, he pleaded not guilty to 17 felony counts of committing lewd acts on children under the age of 14. Since his arrest and initially being accused of sexually abusing eight students, five additional survivors have come forward. Four of those survivors experienced abuse by Braff at McKevett Elementary School, and one reported abuse dating back to 2004–2005, when Braff worked for the Conejo Recreation and Park District in Thousand Oaks.

Braff’s career spanned 24 years, where he worked in several school districts and youth programs across Ventura and Los Angeles counties. We may never know the full extent of the harm he inflicted, but we do know that each allegation represents a child whose life was forever changed.