Four families are suing the San Bruno Park School District, seeking accountability in the wake of former teacher Jeremy Yeh’s conviction on 17 felony child molestation charges. Yeh, who worked at Allen Elementary, was found guilty last week and is facing up to 425 years in prison. He’ll be sentenced on April 25.
The lawsuits claim the district ignored multiple warnings about Yeh’s behavior dating back to 2017, allowing him to continue working and abusing students until his arrest in 2023. The families argue that the district’s failure to act directly enabled Yeh’s continued abuse of young children.
“Our parents feel that they placed their trust in the school district and trusted them to do the right thing when they received information, and that trust was violated,” said Valerie Rose, a Shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, who is representing one of the victims.
The lawsuits claim that school administrators, including then-Principal Jeanne Elliot of El Crystal Elementary and Superintendent Cheryl Olson, failed to comply with mandatory reporting laws, instead choosing to conceal and ignore reports of Yeh’s inappropriate conduct. The victims’ families maintain that this lack of action led to further harm.
“There was a report from students to San Bruno Park School District administrators of inappropriate sexual contact between Mr. Yeh and a student. It’s our understanding that administrators failed to act in response to that”, added Rose.
Attorneys say that Yeh used grooming tactics, including offering his classroom as a private space during recess and contacting students through online gaming platforms. The lawsuits aim not only to seek justice for the victims but also to prevent similar failures in the future, aiming to empower others to come forward and share their stories. There’s a strong belief that other girls may have also been abused by Mr. Yeh.
These cases underscore the importance of school districts taking every report of misconduct seriously to protect the children entrusted to their care. Rose’s clients say they feel betrayed.
“The San Bruno Park School District blatantly failed these victims, our daughter included, by ignoring their known obligation as mandatory reporters. They had every opportunity to not only stop the first victim’s abuse, but they could have prevented all of the others from being abused as well. We brought our daughter to school, trusting them to keep her protected. Instead, they decided to protect and enable a sexual predator. There will not be a full resolution to this nightmare for our family until the school district is held responsible and faces the appropriate consequences for their actions,” said the victim’s mother.
Read more:
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/peninsula/san-bruno-school-district-lawsuits/3810901/
