The Santa Barbara Unified School District and three current and former Dos Pueblos High School employees are facing a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse of a special-education student.
The legal complaint alleges that Miguel Angel Juarez, Andrew Grimes and Andrew Mitchell sexually abused a teenage student with disabilities while assisting him with using the restroom at the school.
Juarez was arrested in May 2025 for a sexual battery misdemeanor against someone he knew from Dos Pueblos High School. He was sentenced last September to four days in county jail and one year of probation, according to court records.
Juarez stopped working at the district last May, and Grimes and Mitchell are currently employed at the school, according to Ed Zuchelli, SBUSD spokesperson.
“Although the district takes all allegations involving student welfare seriously, the filing of a lawsuit is not evidence,” Zuchelli said. “The lawsuit does not identify a single specific date, time, location, or act by any individual, and the lawsuit against the district and its employees appears to be entirely meritless.
“We have met with our attorneys, and they, like the district, intend to defend this case and our employees vigorously.”
The lawsuit claims that on May 2, 2025, the mother of a special-needs student, who was identified as John Doe, discovered that her son had been sexually and physically abused while at school.
The alleged abuse occurred while the student was being assisted with toileting and hygiene in private areas on the school campus, including the restrooms and other secluded areas, according to the lawsuit.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the teenage student is unable to articulate the full extent of the alleged abuse due to his disabilities and the trauma from the alleged incident.
“It’s really tragic anytime that anybody has to suffer any type of abuse, much less sexual abuse, and it’s even worse when the victim happens to also have conditions that that make it more difficult just to live and just deal with the activities, daily living, like my client does,” said Steven Kronenberg, attorney at The Veen Firm LLP.
The lawsuit also alleges that the school district failed to do proper due diligence before hiring the employees, failed to adequately supervise the employees, and failed to enforce policies designed to protect vulnerable students.
“I think it’s important to have employees who are probably trained and supervised, and to make sure that that’s not just a one-time thing, but an ongoing responsibility that is taken seriously,” Kronenberg said.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified general, special and punitive damages, along with legal costs.
The district had not filed a response to the lawsuit in court as of Tuesday.
