School district appears to blame four third graders for being molested by teacher

'Plaintiffs were old enough to appreciate the consequences of their own actions'

Children not involved in the case sit in school in a different school district (FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images)

A Florida school district appears to have blamed four third-graders for being sexually abused by their teacher, claiming that the children were “old enough to appreciate the consequences of their own actions”.

The four children – each about nine years old at the time – reported more than 10 years ago that their teacher had groped them and forced them to touch him over his clothes. After discovering past, similar reports about the teacher, the parents sued the Palm Beach School District for negligence.

The school district responded in court filings by claiming that it was the children themselves who were negligent.

“Plaintiffs were old enough to appreciate the consequences of their own actions and to be held accountable for them,” the school district wrote in court filings obtained by the Palm Beach Post and Sun Sentinel.

They added: “Through their actions and/or omissions, plaintiffs conducted themselves in a careless and negligent manner, and such negligence was a contributing and/or sole proximate cause of their injuries and damages.”

The Board defended its argument in a statement this week, saying it “must consider all legal defences on a case by case basis”.

“However,” the district added, “this current School Board has never taken the position that a child could be implicit in their own child abuse.”

The case has wound its way through Florida courts for more than 12 years, eventually making its way to the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided in favour of the plaintiffs, ruling that they could sue the school district for negligence under Title IX – a federal law barring gender discrimination in schools.

The negligence claim stems from reports that the teacher, Blake Sinrod, had been reported for similar behaviour years before, but never disciplined.

In their suit against the district, the plaintiffs claim that another family had reported similar behaviour to an assistant principal in 2003, only to be told that Mr Sinrod was a highly recommended teacher, and that the student was likely lying.

Mr Sinrod was still teaching when the four girls named in the suit arrived in his classroom in 2004.

The teacher has since pleaded guilty to child abuse charges and has agreed to surrender his teacher incense. The school district, meanwhile, has reportedly settled with the plaintiffs for more than $3.5m – one of their largest settlements ever.

Representatives from the school district were not immediately available for comment.