|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Mountain View Whisman School District will pay $5 million to three former students who alleged they were sexually abused by a Graham Middle School teacher roughly 50 years ago.
School Board President Charles DiFazio announced the settlement after the board emerged from the closed session at an Aug. 20 board meeting. He described the settlement as one that supports the district’s responsibility to address allegations from the past while “allowing the district to focus fully on its mission: serving our current students.”
“This agreement fairly addresses the concerns raised while ensuring that critical funding remains directed toward educational programs and support services our students rely on today,” DiFazio said. “Our commitment to student safety and wellbeing remains our priority.”
The lawsuit, filed against the Mountain View Whisman School District on Dec. 5, 2022, claimed the district did not properly protect the students from Nathaniel McCray, who served as a sex education, science and theater teacher at Graham Middle School.
The two victims with whom the district settled were in McCray’s classrooms from 1972 to 1974. He allegedly groomed, sexually harassed, abused and molested them.
McCray was indicted in 1974 for taking part in a child sexual abuse material ring. He was charged with lewd and lascivous acts and oral copulation with children under the age of 14. Hundreds of boys were sexually assaulted by ring orchestrators, which also included employees in the Santa Clara Unified School District, according to court documents.
Although the abuse occurred more than 50 years ago, the lawsuit was possible because of the Child Victims Act, Mountain View Whisman spokesperson Shelly Hausman confirmed to the Voice. The 2019 state law expanded the ability of victims of childhood sexual assault to take legal action and gave victims whose statutes of limitations had expired until Dec. 31, 2022 to file lawsuits.
The lawsuit is set to be dismissed on Feb. 19, 2027.
Editor’s Note: This version of the story clarifies the number of plaintiffs the district paid from the lawsuit.
