Loyalsock Township School Board addresses $3 million settlement
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Loyalsock Township School Board approved a $3 million settlement and release in the matter of Jane Doe v. the district.
Doe v. the district was a legal case involving a plaintiff, Doe, who sued the school district for its inadequate response to sexual abuse perpetrated by a former coach, Kelli Vassallo.
Dr. Brooke Beiter, district superintendent, noted this is a post-trial settlement that brings about "finality and peace to all involved and provides the district with a path to closure and healing."
The settlement agreement is $3 million, covered by insurance in full with no impact to the budget or previous insurance rates, she added.
The case was widely publicized and covered by various members of the news media as it was in the U.S. Middle District Court in Williamsport.
Board member Michael Zicolello, an attorney, said he felt compelled to comment on it because he said he was the longest tenured member on this board.
He noted the $3 million, although not taxpayer money, is a "testament to the gravity of the situation."
Although it preceded Zicolello's time on the board, it involved the actions of administrators no longer with the district, and, "the gravity requires comment," he said.
After saying when he was first elected to the board, he asserted the administration's communications regarding this lawsuit were, in essence, that it had very little merit.
As a lawyer and based on his knowledge of some of the facts, Zicolello said he questioned this evaluation, and said when he sought particular information regarding the lawsuit he was "stonewalled."
As an example, he said, when he requested a transcript of an administrative deposition in the case he was told he could not see it and such information would only be provided should the entire board request it. He said he also attended the trial and heard testimony of a prior administrator and said what he heard was "disturbing."
"Our district had been advised that a woman we had been employing as a middle school softball assistant coach was credibly accused of having sex with a minor girl," he said.
The former coach was not immediately terminated from coaching.
"In fact, we continued to rehire her," Zicolello said, adding the former administrator recommended that the former coach be given an additional role as a middle school girls basketball coach. The eventual victim who filed the lawsuit was a member of that basketball team.
"From where I sit as a board member, resident and a parent who had three kids go through this school district, the district was wrong," Zicolello said. "It is a shameful episode that we should never forget."
Zicolello added, personally, that he was sorry the victim suffered sexual abuse, and was sorry "that our district did not make the victim feel supported and heard, and I am hopeful that it will never happen to any student every again."