YSD refused to fire paraeducator accused of sexually grooming a child over legal advice
komonews.com/news/local/ysd-refused-to-fire-paraeducator-accused-of-sexually-grooming-a-child-over-legal-advice
Yakima, Washington
YAKIMA – A student and her attorney's reached an out-of-court settlement with the Yakima School District over not firing a para-educator who had been investigated for sexually grooming her.
In a press release sent this morning, Tamaki Law said they settled for $500,000 with the district after they argued the school failed to protect a child when they knew something was wrong.
"This type of behavior needs to be dealt with swiftly and severely," Bryan Smith, one of the child's attorneys said.
In 2015, then 33-year-old Aristeo Garcia-Rubio invited a 12-year-old girl back to his house, only a block away from Franklin Middle School. After a few of their meetings, he raped her.
But this didn't come out of nowhere.
Bryan Smith and Megan Hale, who represented the girl say six months prior to the sexual assault, the girl's mother found Garcia walking her daughter home from school, buying her gifts and flirting with her. The mother filed a complaint and Garcia was put on paid administrative leave while under investigation.
"It was our position and the position of our expert witnesses they absolutely had the power to fire this parapro because this was a serious offense," Smith said.
Garcia wasn't fired, in fact he was allowed to go back to work at the same school where the same girl was attending. After a five day investigation, the district brought him back with no other punishment despite protests from Sherry Anderson, Principal of Franklin Middle School.
YSD released a statement from Robert Noe, the chief legal council for the school district saying "The Yakima School District had policies and procedures in place to address sexual harassment of a student, The District responded appropriately to the circumstances and the evidence presented to it, The District applied its policies and procedures and school administrators determined that the employee should have been terminated, However, upon the advice of counsel, the District did not terminate the employee at that time."
The lawyers at Tamaki Law said this was a case of the school district sacrificing a child's safety just to avoid a possible lawsuit over firing somebody.
"They wanted to adhere to the collective bargaining agreement and err on the side of not firing someone when they could be possibly sued by the [teacher's] union for doing so," Smith said. "Even if this was a teacher, a full teacher, if you're sexually grooming a student, game over," Smith added.
YSD did not say if they will make any changes to their policies in the aftermath of the settlement.
Smith added there is no dollar amount that can restore the girl's innocence or peace of mind.
As for the child, her attorneys say she's just thankful it's finally over and that she can move on with her life.