Seattle Public Schools to pay $3M in sexual abuse case

Seattle Public Schools has agreed to pay $3.05 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of two girls who were sexually abused by their fifth-grade teacher.

The teacher, Laurence "Shayne" Hill, pleaded guilty in late 2005 to child molestation and other sex crimes against students, including the two girls in the current settlement. He is serving a sentence of five years to life in prison.

Hill's misconduct spanned nearly 20 years, with at least 15 teachers and staff reporting his inappropriate behavior to successive school administrators, according to court documents.

The criminal investigation began after the mother of one of the girls in the settlement walked into Hill's classroom at Broadview-Thomson Elementary School in April 2005 to deliver lunch to her then-11-year-old daughter. She saw Hill sitting extremely close to her daughter, and he had his hand on the girl's buttocks, according to charging documents.

The lawsuit was filed in late 2005.

Shortly before it was scheduled to go to trial on March 3 in King County Superior Court, the school district filed court papers seeking to have the trial limited to determining damages, said Anne Bremner, a lawyer for the girls.

The plaintiffs balked, and instead the settlement was reached March 3. It was announced Monday after receiving approval from the girls' guardians and the court, Bremner said.

"Seattle Schools does take responsibility for the actions of this former employee," Patty Spencer, Seattle Public Schools' spokeswoman, said Monday.

The district revised its training in 2006 related to adult sexual misconduct, including guidelines for reporting such misconduct to outside authorities, Spencer said. That training covers every district employee who works with students and those who supervise such employees, she said.

"Although words are inadequate in this situation we do express our heartfelt apologies to the victims and their families," Spencer said.

The lion's share of the award, $2.5 million, went to one girl whose abuse stretched back to the 2001-02 school year. She was not the girl whose mother walked into the classroom.