These Government Records Will Stay Hidden From the Public We’ve obtained hundreds of pages of school sexual misconduct records. But some will stay hidden. In November 2017, Voice of San Diego requested public records from all 43 public school districts in the county in related to substantiated sexual misconduct by employees dating back 10 years. Some school districts provided the records willingly. Others, like Coronado Unified and La Mesa Spring-Valley, were less forthcoming. We’ve had to go to court to shake public records out of those districts. Meanwhile, San Diego Unified delayed producing most records for more than a year. More than two years later, we’re still seeking records ... Coronado Unified: In March 2017, a former middle school student alleged Coronado High School water polo coach and physical education teacher Randall Burgess raped and assaulted him on the high school campus. Burgess has since retired. Coronado Unified initially produced nothing to VOSD, then later disclosed a handful of documents showing complaints and reprimands of non-teaching staff only. Coronado Unified officials actually did initially identify records pertaining to the Burgess case and planned to release them to VOSD, but reversed course when another attorney for Burgess threatened to sue the district if it released them. Now, we’ve been in court for nearly ... Poway Unified: Voice of San Diego reported that two Poway Unified teachers who were ousted for relationships with students kept working in education. The records we obtained from Poway Unified in response for our November 2017 records request revealed the district agreed not to mention to future employers that the two high school teacher had been forced out for sexual misconduct. After we reported in 2018 that Poway Unified agreed not to tell prospective employers that two of its teachers had been ousted for having sexual relationships with students, readers flooded us with complaints about other Poway Unified employees who they suspected ... Oceanside Unified: As part of our 2017 request, Oceanside Unified gave VOSD three pages of emails from 2016 indicating a former substitute teacher was under investigation by NCIS for allegedly molesting a third grader at Stuart Mesa Elementary on Camp Pendleton in 2008. Oceanside Unified was contacted by the parents of the student, and notified the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, according to the email by the district. District officials said the teacher worked for Oceanside from May 2007 to June 2015, and, “The District was unaware of the allegations during Mr. Thornton’s employment, and therefore his separation from employment was unrelated ... Continue reading... https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/top...ent-records-will-stay-hidden-from-the-public/
