The Carpinteria Unified School District is being haunted by its past as it faces four lawsuits from alleged abuse that took place more than four decades ago, putting the district in a complicated financial situation. 

The lawsuits were filed by four men in their 50s and 60s who say Virgil Williams, former principal of Main Elementary, molested them as children, according to reporting from The San Francisco Chronicle.

Williams was convicted in 1986 of three counts of molestation of children under the age of 14 and sentenced to 12 years in prison after six boys testified against him in court. Williams died years ago, but some of his victims are still seeking justice, according to news reports.

Carpinteria Unified School District board member Andy Sheaffer had just graduated from high school when Williams, his former elementary school principal, was arrested. Sheaffer said it was surprising at the time but is now part of why he passionately believes in listening to students.

“You have to listen to kids, and you have to give them a voice to be heard, because not all their experiences are the same,” Sheaffer said. “I had what I remember as a positive experience with Virgil Williams, but there obviously were other students who had a horrible experience with him.”

The lawsuits come after a 2020 state law, Assembly Bill 218, gave people until age 40 to file claims against educators who allegedly abused or assaulted them and the administrations who failed to protect them. The legislation also opened a three-year window for people to file lawsuits for even older allegations.

Sheaffer said the law provides few protections for school districts such as Carpinteria when the involved parties have long left the district. 

“I understand what their intent was, to protect folks who were damaged, who suffered traumatic experiences,” Sheaffer said. “I think they only did part of the job they should have done. They should have created some guardrails for situations such as ours, but really for the entire state.”

While normally the district’s insurance may cover liability issues, in the case of old allegations, the claim would have to be filed with the insurance provider the district had at the time of the alleged abuse. 

Carpinteria Unified was insured by Union Pacific in the 1970s, which went out of business that same decade. 

Carpinteria Unified Superintendent Diana Rigby said that leaves the district in a complicated financial situation.

“The Chronicle article highlighted the situation that Carpinteria Unified and others like us find ourselves in,” Rigby said in a statement to Noozhawk. “The fact that the liability insurance we had in the 1970s when the abuse occurred is now gone leaves us in an extremely precarious situation for we clearly do not have the funds to pay the types of judgments that are being incurred in other districts around the state.”

Because of claims issued under AB 218, Los Angeles County recently announced it plans to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 child abuse claims that occurred at juvenile facilities and foster homes from the 1980s through the 2000s.

Rigby said the law puts the district in an impossible situation as it is entirely financed from local property taxes and the budget barely meets the 3% minimum reserve requirement.

“While we have great sympathy for victims, it’s not fair that today’s district taxpayers are going to be required to foot the bill,” Rigby said. “No current district staff or students had anything to do with the events that are being alleged. In fact, most district staff from that era are deceased.”

Rigby said the lawsuits are not expected to go to trial before the end of the year. Time will tell how the cases go and what the impact will be to the district’s finances. 

More Legal Battles From the Present

Those lawsuits aren’t the district’s only legal battles.

Since November 2022, Carpinteria Unified has been trying to dismiss middle school teacher Jay Hotchner for alleged inappropriate and unprofessional conduct toward students.

Hotchner also is the president of the Carpinteria Association of Unified School Employees (CAUSE), which is in ongoing negotiations with the district for salary increases.

The Commission on Professional Competence ordered that Hotchner be rehired, and a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge recently upheld that ruling.

While the commission found that Hotchner “had engaged in conduct that was inappropriate,” they also found that his dismissal was not warranted because the district failed to establish that he was unfit to teach or that his actions were immoral. 

Sheaffer, the board member, said dealing with the two legal situations has been frustrating.

“It’s just ironic that we’re essentially trying to release a teacher who has created an intimidating and unprofessional environment for students and we’re being told by a judge that the level of harassment and bullying, that no one’s denying occurred, doesn’t rise to the level that we can release him,” Sheaffer said. “And then at the same time we’re being sued for something that occurred so long ago, it’s completely out of our control. So it’s a really frustrating situation.”

The Superior Court ruling stated that the district failed to meet its burden of proof to support terminating Hotchner’s job.

“The Superior Court’s decision speaks for itself,” Hotchner said in a statement to Noozhawk. “I am, of course, pleased that the justice system has restored my good name. Unfortunately, CUSD’s officials squandered 3.5 million taxpayer dollars to undermine employee union leadership and defend unlawful disciplinary actions. That is money that could and should have been invested in students, employees and their families.”

Hotchner added that his legal situation should not be conflated with the cases the district is facing from the 1970s. 

“In an effort to play on the public’s fears, the district would like to conflate the two issues,” Hotchner said. “However, the only similarities are the district’s unethical behavior, mismanagement of public resources and misuse of administrative authority.”