A John Doe lawsuit was filed against the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, alleging negligence and conspiracy in allowing a male teacher to groom and molest a male student, beginning in 2006.

Despite the boy's uncle reporting the abuse to the principal, the accused teacher continued working at the school for another 10 years.

The lawsuit claims that the school never reported the accusation to law enforcement, and the student was even assigned to that teacher's class in a subsequent year. The teacher was later arrested in 2018, convicted, and is now on the sex offender registry. https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/381842-la-high-school-for-the-arts-named-in-child-molestation-suit (Nov. 06, 2024).

Commentary

Educators and school staff are mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse.

The litigation in the above matter will focus on whether the school had enough information to trigger the duty of school personnel to inform child protection authorities when the victim's uncle made the first accusation.

The standard for reporting by mandatory reporters in California is triggered by a "reasonable suspicion" that sexual abuse occurred. This means if a teacher, a mandatory reporter, has knowledge that, or a reasonable suspicion that, a student is a victim of child sexual abuse, the teacher is required to report this to child protection authorities, even if the abuse is witnessed outside of school hours or on personal time. "Reasonable suspicion" does not require certainty or a specific medical indication that the abuse or neglect has taken place. https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/info_bulletins/2020-dle-17.pdf

The accused teacher in this matter was arrested, not because of a report from a mandatory reporter, but because he was caught up in a law enforcement sting operation.

If the John Doe complainant can prove through objective records or testimony that the uncle made an accusation to school officials, the standard is met, and the district will most likely be held to have failed its duty to report to child protection authorities.

An accusation alone of student sexual abuse can rise to the level of reasonable suspicion. In California, "reasonable suspicion" is defined as a situation where an objectively reasonable person, based on the facts and drawing on their experience or training, suspects child abuse or neglect. This means that even without certainty or specific medical indications, an accusation can be enough to trigger the reporting obligation.

Other red flag behavior that could indicate sexual abuse include: 

• Touching a child sexually or inappropriately
• Asking for, or demanding, sex from a child
• Sharing nude or sexually explicit images with a child
• Asking/demanding a child provide nude or sexual images
• Watching or recording a child perform sexual acts
• Performing sexual acts in front of a child
• Displaying or watching pornography with or around a child
• Displaying or providing sexual clothing, sex toys, or other intimate items to a child
• Providing alcohol and/or drugs to a child
• Speaking about sex, sexuality, and/or sexual desires around or to a child
• Providing gifts or money to a child without parent/guardian approval
• Spending time alone with a child without parent/guardian approval
• Purposefully secluding yourself with a child in a private space/home away from other adults
• Being alone with a child where other adults cannot view/interact with you or the child
• Privately communicating with a child
• Communicating online with a child without approval from or copying parents/guardians
• Privately communicating false or exploitive information to a child 
• Taking, or recording, images of a child without parent/guardian approval
• Asking a child to download private/encrypted messaging applications
• Threatening a child physically, verbally or emotionally
• Threatening to harm people, pets, or things important to a child
• Threatening to post private information or images of or about a child
• Manipulating or altering images to exploit or harm a child
• Confining or holding a child against the child's will
• Talking negatively about parents/guardians to child