Ocean View to pay $6.8 million

Coral Wilson

Ocean View School District was ordered to pay nearly $6.8 million in

settlements to six boys over molestation charges against Jason

Abhyankar, a former Huntington Beach Village View School teacher.

The ruling will only set the district back amount to about $4,000

to $6,000 in deductibles, however.

The district’s budget will not be affected, since the payments

will be covered by insurance, said Marylou Beckmann, director of

fiscal services.

“It’s like when your house burns down,” she said. “That’s why you

have insurance,” she said.

Abhyankar, who taught at Village View from 1997 to 1999, was later

employed by Saddleback Unified School District based on positive

recommendations from the Ocean View School District. Later, four boys

at Portola Hills Elementary School and two at Village View said they

were molested by Abhyankar.

Abhyankar was convicted of three counts of child molestation and

sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2002.

The $6.8 million settlement is the largest to be paid by a school

district in California history for a case involving a teacher

molesting students, said Todd Wolfe, president of Trials Digest

Publishing Inc., which tracks and publishes California civil trial

results.

One verdict against the Bonita Unified School District in 1999 was

higher, at $10.8 million, but in that case, the district was only

responsible for paying $4.9 million of it, he said. The Abhyankar

case was unique because it included theories of fraud and

nondisclosure of information and because of the number of victims

involved, Wolfe said.

The six boys will receive the settlement money in amounts ranging

from $512,000 to $3.75 million, he said.

Attorneys and district officials signed a confidentiality

agreement, preventing them from discussing the settlement or the

case.

For some parents, the news ignited past emotions.

“It just makes me sick, because I was like -- see,” said Bev

Airhart, past parent volunteer. “I just felt like there was a

cover-up going on.”

At this point, she said, she is concerned with well-being and

recovery of the children more than the money involved.

“I think it’s a nice compensation for the victims that were

compromised, but money can’t make up for what happened,” Airhart

said. “I hope this sends a message to the district that they can’t

get away with this.”

Michael Luker, assistant superintendent of human resources, said

many changes have taken place as a result.

Luker, who arrived at the scene long after Abhyankar left, said

during his four years with the district, he has been working hard to

strengthen and reinforce hiring and firing procedures.

“I am confident that now, after the last four years, we have

strong things in place that will help with our hiring practices,” he

said.

All letters of recommendation are reviewed carefully before they

are sent out, and Luker said he now asks every reference, “Would you

hire this person back?”

The district has changed hiring practices and raised standards,

and employees are trained to identify suspicious behavior, Luker

said. In the past several years, the district has released two

classroom teachers who did not meet expectations, he said.

“We have a pretty solid system in place,” he said. “We have lots

of eyes and lots of people looking at employees, and I feel confident

in that.”