Boise (Idaho) district will pay $7 million to settle child sexual abuse claims
Key Highlights
- The district will pay $7 million to settle seven sexual abuse accusations involving Gavin Snow.
- Snow, who was a special education assistant, died by suicide as criminal charges were imminent.
- The settlement will be paid partly by insurance and district funding.
The Boise (Idaho) School District will pay out $7 million to close seven sexual abuse claims.
Idaho Education News reports that the settlement agreements will close seven families’ legal claims against the district — all pertaining to Gavin Snow, a former special education assistant at Boise’s Cynthia Mann and Valley View elementary schools.
Snow died by suicide on Jan. 10 as Boise police officers tried to arrest him on child sexual abuse charges.
The legal claims that parents brought against the district contended that Snow exploited and abused their children and photographed them in school bathrooms or sensory rooms. The parents accused Boise school administrators of negligence and contended they failed to properly investigate complaints against Snow.
The Boise district has received roughly $152.5 million in tort claims directly or indirectly involving Snow.
Boise’s insurance carrier will cover only $2 million of the $7 million settlement.
“The remaining $5 million will be paid by the district by reducing funding to non-classroom related expenses, including the district’s facility maintenance fund,” the district said.
The settlements come months after the district publicly apologized to Valley View parents and families. In an April 8 letter, Superintendent Lisa Roberts acknowledged that “a single employee was involved in multiple instances of inappropriate behavior with more than one student in the bathroom and sensory room at Valley View.”
In April, the district also announced several policy changes in the wake of complaints against Snow. For example, staff can no longer have phones with them when they diaper a student or help a student use the bathroom, and doors to sensory rooms must remain open.