DOUGLAS SCHOOLS PAY $2.2 MILLION TO SETTLE LAWSUIT
District had refused to disclose settlement amount
Officials allegedly ignored duty to report to police sexual assault allegations about a teacher.
The Douglas County School District paid $2.2 million as part of a confidential agreement to settle a federal lawsuit alleging administrators ignored their duty to report to police allegations they received about a Rocky Heights Middle School teacher who went on to repeatedly sexually assault a 14-yearold girl.
The school district initially had refused to disclose the settlement to The Denver Post when the newspaper asked for details while reporting on failures in mandatory reporting laws at schools throughout the state.
District officials had contended a confidentiality provision prevented the district from disclosing the settlement.
Wendy Jacobs, the incoming acting general counsel for the Douglas County School District, acknowledged on Tuesday that the details of the settlement were public and should have been provided when The Post made a request for the information. She released to the newspaper a copy of the settlement, which was reached in 2016.
The district released the settlement after the newspaper’s lawyer, Steven Zansberg, discussed the matter with Jacobs. During that discussion, Zansberg pointed to case law in Colorado that showed government entities in Colorado cannot withhold from disclosure public documents, such as settlements to litigation, by entering into a contract.
A copy of the confidentiality settlement agreement provided the newspaper on Tuesday also showed the agreement only restrained the victim of the sexual assaults, her parents and their attorneys from disclosing the terms of the agreement.
There was nothing in the agreement constraining the school district from disclosing to the public the settlement.
The settlement required the plaintiffs and their lawyers to tell anyone inquiring about the settlement to limit any statement to: “This matter has been resolved.”
As part of the settlement, the school district denied the allegations in the lawsuit and did not admit any wrongdoing.
The settlement was covered by the school district’s insurance policy, and the school district only had to pay the deductible, Jacobs said.
The lawsuit was filed by the victim of Richard “Rick” Johnson, a former math teacher at Rocky Heights Middle School, who now is serving 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of sexual exploitation of a child.
Johnson began showering attention on the girl when she was 13, giving her his clothes to wear and plying her with alcohol, court documents show. He escalated the relationship to a sexual one in 2011 when she turned 14.
Patricia Dierberger, the principal of Rocky Heights at the time, and James McMurphy, then the vice principal, did not report Johnson to child-protective services or police despite receiving warnings about Johnson.