Child Victims Act settlements financially strain some Long Island school districts
Jessica Palmese, an attorney for the Herricks School district, gives her opening statement on March 4 in Mineola. Credit: Howard Schnapp
The Middle Country school board approved a $1.25 million lawsuit settlement last month to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused by a teacher decades ago.
In that same meeting on April 16, the board adopted a proposed 2024-25 budget that includes cuts in staffing, programs and even supplies and equipment for students.
Superintendent Roberta Gerold cited rising health insurance costs, inflation and instability in state aid among the factors for the cuts. But she acknowledged that the settlement, for which the district paid $1 million after insurance coverage, was one factor “contributing to the district’s decisions regarding changes that were needed when developing the proposed 2024-2025 annual budget.”
Middle Country, a district in Suffolk serving about 9,000 students, is not alone in facing fiscal challenges from mounting settlements resulting from lawsuits former students filed against Long Island districts under the Child Victims Act.
Districts have now paid out $33.1 million to settle 46 lawsuits brought by former students who say teachers, administrators and fellow students sexually abused them, according to a Newsday tally. Eleven other suits have been settled, but Newsday has yet to receive requested agreements through Freedom of Information Law requests. Another 100 cases are going through the system, including 44 against the Bay Shore district that are related to the same retired teacher.
A Newsday investigation found districts paid former students between $5,000 and $8 million to end their lawsuits.
The Herricks district, to help pay for the settlements there, approved a $5 million bond last month. In Cold Spring Harbor, voters in November gave approval for the district to liquidate a $7.7 million capital reserve fund.
Harborfields wants to do something similar with the upcoming budget vote on May 21.
The district is seeking community support to liquidate a capital reserve fund so officials can apply nearly $1.1 million toward the $2.55 million debt that came from settling two Child Victims Act lawsuits.
School board members and educators have raised concerns over the fiscal impact such obligatory payments have on school operations, fearing they might jeopardize the quality of education for students today.
“The CVA settlements are a direct threat to our program,” David Steinberg, a Harborfields board member, said in a March meeting after a budget presentation.
“If we don’t have creative ways to meet these debts, unfortunately, then it would be programs that would have to be sacrificed,” he said.
State lawmakers in 2019 passed the Child Victims Act, which allowed childhood survivors of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a lawsuit for damages. The lookback window was extended to August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the law's passage, survivors were prevented from filing suit once they turned 23.
Nearly 200 cases were filed against Long Island districts, where former students accused districts of not doing enough to stop the sexual abuse. Bay Shore faced 45 lawsuits. One was settled and the others are working toward trial. The district’s ongoing legal costs through February have added up to $685,495.
In the cases when insurance companies no longer exist or they decline to cover part or all of the claims, the financial burden shifts to the taxpayers or the educational programs suffer, said Jay Worona, deputy executive director of the New York State School Boards Association.
“When you're looking for money to fund a school district, this is just another expense that the district would have to pay,” he said. “That could come out of the educational opportunities that children would not then be receiving.”
Laura Ahearn, an attorney who is the executive director of the Ronkonkoma-based Crime Victims Center, said sometimes the only way to hold institutions, including schools, accountable is through financial pressure.
“Unfortunately, there's going to be a financial burden that results from the years of the past, but justice has to be given to those victims who have a lifetime of suffering,” she said.
“Hopefully, all of these financial burdens that they're all facing will now compel individuals that are aware that somebody amongst them is abusing a child that they will help and stop the victimization instead of just turning a blind eye,” she said.
In Middle Country, the cuts officials proposed include 21 teaching jobs, many through attribution; three teaching assistants, one nurse and one clerical position, according to the proposed budget. Reductions also include supplies for 10 elementary schools and equipment for two high schools.
In funding Child Victims Act settlements, Gerold said districts have a few options: insurance; money from the general fund or dedicated reserve funds set up for potential settlements; or bonding, meaning borrowing.
The district already had paid a $900,000 settlement from its liability insurance reserve fund. Officials resorted to taking the $1 million out of its general fund and said the settlement was offset by “unanticipated additional BOCES surplus funds of over $700,000” going back to the district this year.
“While there were hard decisions to be made in developing the 2024-2025 proposed budget, the District is still preserving core programming,” Gerold said in an emailed statement to Newsday.
The $1.25 million settlement is the fifth settlement greater than $1 million so far paid by an Island district.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Linc Leder, with Slater Slater Schulman LLP, which has an office in Melville, declined to comment beyond that the parties reached a mutual agreement, citing the confidentiality clause in the settlement.
Middle Country is still facing two active suits, one of which is nearing trial.
The first Child Victims Act case to go to trial on Long Island ended in March with a jury finding the Herricks school district not negligent. The plaintiff, a high school graduate, alleged he was sexually abused by a school psychologist in the late 1980s.
Since the trial, 27 of the 28 cases Herricks faced have closed. In the other case, a lawsuit against multiple entities, Herricks is no longer a defendant. As of this week, eight settlements have been approved by the board. In early April, the school board approved a $5 million bond to help pay for settled claims.
Herricks Superintendent Tony Sinanis said the district had no comment on the bond. Jim Gounaris, president of the school board, also declined to comment.
When reached Thursday, Jenny Rossman, an attorney with Herman Law, which represents plaintiffs in 27 of the 28 cases against Herricks, declined to comment “at this time.”
Harborfields has faced 10 Child Victims Act lawsuits. Three are ongoing and the rest have been settled.
In August, the school board authorized the settlement of two lawsuits in which two former students said they were sexually abused by the same music teacher in the 1970s.
The total payments to the former students were $7.3 million; the district paid $2.55 million and the insurance company covered the rest, according to the settlement agreements. To pay the $2.55 million, the Harborfields district obtained short-term financing at a 6.25% one-year interest rate.
In a third settlement in the amount of $350,000, Superintendent Rory Manning said the district employed an insurance archaeologist to locate the policy that indemnified the district. The district is yet to release the other four settlements Newsday requested.
In recent board meetings, Manning reiterated that paying down the debt will save residents money in interest payments that would otherwise be paid to finance that debt over time. Also, the proposition to liquidate the reserve will not result in property tax increases for residents, he said.
If voters approve it in two weeks, Manning said, the district would finance the remaining debt, most likely through a 15-year bond. If the proposition is rejected, the district would need to finance the full amount of the obligation resulting from the Child Victims Act litigation.
The school board, Manning said through an emailed statement, is committed to ensure that the outcome of the Child Victims Act litigation has ”little to no impact on student programs.”
“Applying the existing funds within the 2015 Capital Reserve would greatly reduce the costs of financing the obligation and, as a result, lessen the financial impact to future budgets,” his statement read.
With Grant Parpan
The Middle Country school board approved a $1.25 million lawsuit settlement last month to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused by a teacher decades ago.
In that same meeting on April 16, the board adopted a proposed 2024-25 budget that includes cuts in staffing, programs and even supplies and equipment for students.
Superintendent Roberta Gerold cited rising health insurance costs, inflation and instability in state aid among the factors for the cuts. But she acknowledged that the settlement, for which the district paid $1 million after insurance coverage, was one factor “contributing to the district’s decisions regarding changes that were needed when developing the proposed 2024-2025 annual budget.”
Middle Country, a district in Suffolk serving about 9,000 students, is not alone in facing fiscal challenges from mounting settlements resulting from lawsuits former students filed against Long Island districts under the Child Victims Act.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Districts have now paid $33.1 million to settle 46 lawsuits brought by former students who say teachers, administrators and fellow students sexually abused them, according to a Newsday tally.
- School board members and educators have raised concerns over the fiscal impact such obligatory payments have on school operations, fearing they might jeopardize the quality of education for students today.
- In the Middle Country district, officials acknowledged that a recent $1.25 million settlement was a contributing factor to proposed cuts in its budget.
Districts have now paid out $33.1 million to settle 46 lawsuits brought by former students who say teachers, administrators and fellow students sexually abused them, according to a Newsday tally. Eleven other suits have been settled, but Newsday has yet to receive requested agreements through Freedom of Information Law requests. Another 100 cases are going through the system, including 44 against the Bay Shore district that are related to the same retired teacher.
A Newsday investigation found districts paid former students between $5,000 and $8 million to end their lawsuits.
The Herricks district, to help pay for the settlements there, approved a $5 million bond last month. In Cold Spring Harbor, voters in November gave approval for the district to liquidate a $7.7 million capital reserve fund.
Harborfields wants to do something similar with the upcoming budget vote on May 21.
The district is seeking community support to liquidate a capital reserve fund so officials can apply nearly $1.1 million toward the $2.55 million debt that came from settling two Child Victims Act lawsuits.
School board members and educators have raised concerns over the fiscal impact such obligatory payments have on school operations, fearing they might jeopardize the quality of education for students today.
“The CVA settlements are a direct threat to our program,” David Steinberg, a Harborfields board member, said in a March meeting after a budget presentation.
“If we don’t have creative ways to meet these debts, unfortunately, then it would be programs that would have to be sacrificed,” he said.
State lawmakers in 2019 passed the Child Victims Act, which allowed childhood survivors of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a lawsuit for damages. The lookback window was extended to August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the law's passage, survivors were prevented from filing suit once they turned 23.
Nearly 200 cases were filed against Long Island districts, where former students accused districts of not doing enough to stop the sexual abuse. Bay Shore faced 45 lawsuits. One was settled and the others are working toward trial. The district’s ongoing legal costs through February have added up to $685,495.
In the cases when insurance companies no longer exist or they decline to cover part or all of the claims, the financial burden shifts to the taxpayers or the educational programs suffer, said Jay Worona, deputy executive director of the New York State School Boards Association.
“When you're looking for money to fund a school district, this is just another expense that the district would have to pay,” he said. “That could come out of the educational opportunities that children would not then be receiving.”
"Justice has to be given to those victims who have a lifetime of suffering,” said Laura Ahearn, executive director of the Crime Victims Center. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Laura Ahearn, an attorney who is the executive director of the Ronkonkoma-based Crime Victims Center, said sometimes the only way to hold institutions, including schools, accountable is through financial pressure.
“Unfortunately, there's going to be a financial burden that results from the years of the past, but justice has to be given to those victims who have a lifetime of suffering,” she said.
“Hopefully, all of these financial burdens that they're all facing will now compel individuals that are aware that somebody amongst them is abusing a child that they will help and stop the victimization instead of just turning a blind eye,” she said.
Cuts in Middle Country
In Middle Country, the cuts officials proposed include 21 teaching jobs, many through attribution; three teaching assistants, one nurse and one clerical position, according to the proposed budget. Reductions also include supplies for 10 elementary schools and equipment for two high schools.
In funding Child Victims Act settlements, Gerold said districts have a few options: insurance; money from the general fund or dedicated reserve funds set up for potential settlements; or bonding, meaning borrowing.
The district already had paid a $900,000 settlement from its liability insurance reserve fund. Officials resorted to taking the $1 million out of its general fund and said the settlement was offset by “unanticipated additional BOCES surplus funds of over $700,000” going back to the district this year.
“While there were hard decisions to be made in developing the 2024-2025 proposed budget, the District is still preserving core programming,” Gerold said in an emailed statement to Newsday.
Middle Country schools Superintendent Roberta Gerold said despite difficult budget decisions, "the District is still preserving core programming." Credit: Newsday
The $1.25 million settlement is the fifth settlement greater than $1 million so far paid by an Island district.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Linc Leder, with Slater Slater Schulman LLP, which has an office in Melville, declined to comment beyond that the parties reached a mutual agreement, citing the confidentiality clause in the settlement.
Middle Country is still facing two active suits, one of which is nearing trial.
$5M bond in Herricks
The first Child Victims Act case to go to trial on Long Island ended in March with a jury finding the Herricks school district not negligent. The plaintiff, a high school graduate, alleged he was sexually abused by a school psychologist in the late 1980s.
Since the trial, 27 of the 28 cases Herricks faced have closed. In the other case, a lawsuit against multiple entities, Herricks is no longer a defendant. As of this week, eight settlements have been approved by the board. In early April, the school board approved a $5 million bond to help pay for settled claims.
Herricks Superintendent Tony Sinanis said the district had no comment on the bond. Jim Gounaris, president of the school board, also declined to comment.
When reached Thursday, Jenny Rossman, an attorney with Herman Law, which represents plaintiffs in 27 of the 28 cases against Herricks, declined to comment “at this time.”
$7.3M in Harborfields
Harborfields has faced 10 Child Victims Act lawsuits. Three are ongoing and the rest have been settled.
In August, the school board authorized the settlement of two lawsuits in which two former students said they were sexually abused by the same music teacher in the 1970s.
The total payments to the former students were $7.3 million; the district paid $2.55 million and the insurance company covered the rest, according to the settlement agreements. To pay the $2.55 million, the Harborfields district obtained short-term financing at a 6.25% one-year interest rate.
In a third settlement in the amount of $350,000, Superintendent Rory Manning said the district employed an insurance archaeologist to locate the policy that indemnified the district. The district is yet to release the other four settlements Newsday requested.
In recent board meetings, Manning reiterated that paying down the debt will save residents money in interest payments that would otherwise be paid to finance that debt over time. Also, the proposition to liquidate the reserve will not result in property tax increases for residents, he said.
If voters approve it in two weeks, Manning said, the district would finance the remaining debt, most likely through a 15-year bond. If the proposition is rejected, the district would need to finance the full amount of the obligation resulting from the Child Victims Act litigation.
The school board, Manning said through an emailed statement, is committed to ensure that the outcome of the Child Victims Act litigation has ”little to no impact on student programs.”
“Applying the existing funds within the 2015 Capital Reserve would greatly reduce the costs of financing the obligation and, as a result, lessen the financial impact to future budgets,” his statement read.
With Grant Parpan
