SPRINGBORO — The Springboro Board of Education has approved a settlement agreement related to a federal civil class action lawsuit with parents whose students were sexually abused by a former gym teacher.
The board approved the agreement during a June 14 meeting, at which time they gave no comment before or after its approval.
In a statement sent to News Center 7 from the district, it was revealed that the “district has had no out-of-pocket expenses for this claim, at this time.”
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“The settlement sum amount, as agreed upon by Liberty Mutual Insurance/Netherlands Insurance Company and the claimants is not an out-of-pocket, district expense. The district expense for this claim could reach a maximum of $2,500, based on the district’s insurance deductible for this claim,” the rest of the statement read.
News Center 7 obtained a copy of the settlement through a public records request. In the settlement, “Claimants completely release, acquit, forever discharge and agree to hold harmless” all parties involved except John Austin Hopkins.
Hopkins, a former Springboro gym teacher, was found guilty of 34 of 36 counts of gross sexual imposition in March 2020. Accusations against Hopkins involved 28 students.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in June 2020.
As part of his sentencing, Hopkins was designated as a Tier II sex offender and will have to register his address every six months for 25 years after his release.
The federal class-action lawsuit was filed in September 2019 and alleged that Hopkins installed a doorbell on the gymnasium door to alert him when school staff wanted access.
As News Center 7 previously reported, the district first learned of allegations of inappropriate conduct with a student when a parent reported concerns to the principal at Clearcreek Elementary School.
As part of the settlement, the district has either implemented or plans to implement a list of policies and practices that the settlement outlines. Among those, one states that the superintendent will “provide information to building principals and teaching staff that ‘doorbells’ will not be permitted outside any building classrooms.”
The district has also converted its security system to a web-based viewing system that allows all school resource officers, school secretaries, and building administrators to have access to monitoring in real-time. Annual, in-person training will also be conducted on topics of sexual harassment and abuse prevention and awareness.
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