MUSD is currently facing three lawsuits related to previously employed personnel allegedly having inappropriate sexual interactions with students, according to the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara Public Portal.
One case involves Daniel McQuigg, a teacher formerly employed at MHS until 2018, who allegedly sexually harassed, molested, and abused an MHS student between 2016 and 2020, according to the Complaint for Damages in the court case “Jane Doe vs Milpitas Unified School District et al.” The second case involves former teacher William Martin, and the third pertains to former teacher Paula Chenoweth. Both cases are regarding alleged incidents with Samuel Ayer High School students in the 1970s, according to the portal.
With regards to the McQuigg case, the district investigated allegations and reported findings to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) prior to the court case, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said.
McQuigg’s teaching license was revoked in November 2019, according to the CTC website.
“The school district did our due diligence in investigating, identifying an issue—what we could do to the furthest extent of the law as far as what the evidence was and what legal counsel could do,” Jordan said.
Regarding the 1970s cases, the district is currently locating past records related to those cases and identifying MUSD’s liability insurance carrier from that time, Jordan said. Although these cases involve alleged incidents from the 1970s, MUSD is currently facing a lawsuit because the statute of limitations in California was recently extended for individuals older than 40, she added.
Victims of childhood sexual assault can now seek recovery of damages until age 40 or up to five years after “the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual assault”—whichever comes later, according to California Assembly Bill 218, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The age of majority in California is 18.
The McQuigg case was filed in 2023, while the Martin and Chenoweth cases were filed in 2022, according to the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara Public Portal.
“By opening the door on the statute of limitations for a few years, it allows people who were hurt in some way by those who were supposed to be looking out for their welfare to bring lawsuits against them as individuals and/or the entities that those individuals work for,” Jordan said.
The timeline for resolution of these court cases is indeterminate as there are various factors that could delay a case, Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Damon James said. If the district is handling a case related to personnel discipline that they already addressed in the past, they demonstrate to the court that they had attempted to rectify the situation, he added. With allegations related to personnel, the goal is to ensure student safety while reducing district liability, James said.
“The district’s responsibility is to do what’s in the best interest of the students and the district, so our strategies are always to protect the student,” James said.
The board determines how to proceed with a court case during the closed session of board meetings and consults with legal counsel, James said. While making a decision, they consider ways to reduce liability, or the amount of money the district has to pay out, as well as how to reduce stress on victims and witnesses, he added.
“We’re also looking at those types of things—if we can prove our case, but we can also ensure that there isn’t any further damage to students,” James said.
The district uses its general liability insurance to cover costs related to litigation, Purchasing/Contracts/Bond Budget Manager Kelly Ng said. Each claim has coverage up to $55 million, she added.
MUSD is currently in a Joint Power Agency (JPA) with multiple school districts to split the cost of liability insurance proportionally, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Wendy Zhang said. MUSD’s insurance premium is currently $1.4 million per year, with a deductible of $10,000, she added. The money to pay for insurance comes from MUSD’s general funds, Zhang said.
The more the district uses the liability insurance, the higher MUSD’s “experience rating” becomes, resulting in higher costs of insurance, Jordan said.
“If the insurance is tapped a number of times, the rates are going to go up,” Jordan said. “If the rates go up, then that means less funding for us to use in some other area, whether it’s fixing facilities, getting materials, (or) providing services.”
In 2000, MUSD’s insurance coverage cost was $706,000 annually, but it’s currently $1.4 million annually, Ng said.
“It did go up, but as we mentioned, we are part of this JPA, so it’s just like our group health insurance plan: if there are expenses, then as a whole, our insurance goes up,” Ng said. “So that, plus inflation, has increased our premium price over the years.”
MUSD is currently being sued in nine active court cases, according to the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara Public Portal.
Of these cases, the district has only tapped into the liability insurance for the three personnel-related cases, Jordan said. Costs covered by insurance include payment for legal counsel, she added.
Next year’s insurance premium will increase by approximately 5%, which is a normal amount, Zhang said. MUSD’s experience rating is average compared to the other school districts in the JPA, she added.
The impact of the ongoing court cases on experience rating and insurance costs may reflect later on, Ng said.
To prevent future personnel misconduct, James has worked to initiate a new training program on preventing child abuse for administrators in June, after noticing that past staff trainings weren’t in-depth enough, James said.
The district also currently has annual mandated training for all educators on harassment, sexual harrassment, child abuse, and appropriate ways for educators to discipline students, Jordan said.
“We are really focused on making sure that we have a safe and secure learning and working environment, and it really is important for all of our team members (…) to make sure that we’re paying attention to our annual training so we can recognize signs in case we see something that doesn’t look right,” Jordan said. “For our learners, our students, if you see something or feel something that doesn’t seem right, speak up—because when we speak up, that’s how we prevent things from happening.”
