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High School Student Gets $3 Million In Sexual Abuse Settlement

high school student gets 3 million in sexual abuse settlement
The Seattle Medium

A Seattle student has received a multimillion dollar settlement after going public about abuse in high school. The case involved a Ballard High School student who was abused over two years by the girls’ assistant soccer coach. The lawsuit over the sexual abuse allegations at Ballard High School is no longer headed to trial after the district agreed to pay the student $3 million.

This settlement follows the Abdi Hassan case where the SPS employee was charged with two counts of child molestation. That abuse occurred at Rainier View Elementary School during the 2015-2016 school year. According to court documents, 31-year-old Abdi Hassan was working as an English as a Second Language instructor at Rainier View Elementary, and the victim was his student. At the time of the abuse, the child was six or seven years old.

The current case, but for the settlement, would have gone to trial on June 20. The sad case involved a student and former SPS assistant soccer coach. She was also an instructional assistant. Her name is Meghan Miller. Meghan was trusted to work with special needs students at Ballard High School.

The sexual acts the student accused Miller of involved being sexually abused on a weekly basis beginning in 2016 when the student was a 15-year-old sophomore. The abuse continued until 2018 when the student went public. The abuser was arrested and charged with child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Miller was convicted and now has to register as a sex offender.

The student filed a lawsuit against SPS in December 2020 claiming the district was liable because it knew Miller might pose a danger to students and failed to protect her. Her proof was evidence that showed SPS knew about previous inappropriate behavior involving Miller prior to her being hired at Ballard High School in 2010.

Miller was initially hired in 2007 by SPS at Roosevelt High School, but was terminated in 2009 after her supervisors observed a “pattern of predatory behavior” with students. She was hired the following year at Ballard High School as an assistant girls’ soccer coach. In 2015, Miller’s responsibilities were expanded to include instructional assistant work. Miller used her position to sexually abuse the student.

Authored by The Seattle Medium via The Seattle Medium May 11th 2022

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