The victims are suing because the school failed to protect students by allowing the teacher to return to campus after one year, resulting in more victims.
Victims of a former teacher for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, are suing the district for failing to protect them after the abuse was discovered. Specifically, the district allowed the teacher to return after the first victim reported the abuse to the school.
The former teacher’s name is Scott Waln, and he was recently sentenced to 30 years to life following his sexual assault conviction in 2022.
Waln worked at the Los Alisos Middle School when he was arrested and is also alleged to have committed the assaults at this campus. One of his victims was 11 years old at the time of her assault which took place in 2017. She is now 19.
The victim reported the abuse to her mother who filed a report to the school, resulting in a police investigation. A year later, the school allowed Waln to return to work resulting in more victims.
After his arrest in 2022, the school district released a statement which included saying, “the District has a zero-tolerance policy and committed to the safety of our students and staff.”
This contradicts the victim’s claims as well as the record which shows Waln was allowed back after the claims were made against him. Waln was arrested in 2022 after another student came forward with an assault claim against him.
The victims themselves have asked for anonymity with the reports on the case, as well as one of the victim’s mothers.
While their assailant has been punished for his crimes, the victims themselves believe that the school did not protect them by allowing Waln to return to his teaching duties. Had the district taken the allegations seriously, the victims argue that there would not have been more victims at his hands.
One of the attorneys for the victims, Dominique Boubion, also stated that after the first police investigation, when Waln was allowed to return to campus, “many more children were victimized as a result of that.” The attorneys also believe there may be more victims who have not come forward yet, which the lawsuit is partly intended to address.
