School district to pay $3.25M to settle sex abuse lawsuit filed by 8 former students
Cleveland school officials have agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by eight former students who accused former dance instructor Terence Greene of sexually abusing them.
Attorneys filed a notice of the case’s dismissal Friday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The students also alleged the school district’s board of education failed to protect them from Greene, who faces felony charges that accuse him of sexually abusing students.
“I’m very happy that we were able to resolve these cases with the school district for these eight deserving young men,” said Ryan Fisher, the men’s attorney. “While this was a situation that happened a long time ago, this resolution will go a long way in helping my clients recover from the abuse.”
He commended his clients’ “courage and determination in pursuing this matter to its completion.”
Colin Jennings, the attorney who handled the case for the school board, could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the district declined to discuss the case, citing the sensitive nature. Attempts to reach Greene were unsuccessful.
District officials have said Greene was a contract instructor at the Cleveland School of the Arts.
The settlement comes amid the pending criminal case against Greene, 55, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
He was indicted in September 2020 on 74 sex-related charges, and he is set to stand trial in March.
Greene’s attorney in the criminal matter, W. Scott Ramsey, declined to comment.
Court records in the federal case show Greene worked as an instructor for the school district from 1999 until about 2014, when he resigned amid allegations made by students.
The lawsuit alleges that Greene sexually abused the eight students in the dancers’ dressing room at the school, in his car and at his homes.
The incidents took place from about 2008 through 2012, according to court records.
The lawsuit indicates Greene “groomed” his victims by manipulating them into believing he could help them.
“As their main dance instructor, he would gain their trust by building a mentor-mentee relationship whereby Greene would inject himself into his victims’ lives and make it known that he could assist their education and professional careers as dancers and in the arts,” the lawsuit says.
“Many of Greene’s victims had difficult home lives, and Greene would manipulate the students to view Greene as a father figure. Then, using his position of trust and his reputation, he would begin a sexual relationship with his student victims.”
In 2003, Cuyahoga County prosecutors charged Greene with four counts of having unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Then-Common Pleas Judge Ann Mannen found him not guilty during a bench trial in 2004.
After the trial, Greene returned to the school district and continued teaching, according to the lawsuit.