Lawyers who represent families suing the San Bruno Park School District for allegedly failing to report a teacher for child sex abuse held a press conference on Wednesday with one of the victims and the parents of several victims.
The lawsuits come less than a week after former San Bruno Park School District elementary school teacher Jeremy Yeh was convicted of molesting four students from 2016 to 2022.
The families of those victims allege the school district did not comply with its mandated duty to report suspected child abuse to police and child welfare agencies.
The press conference was held at the Burlingame office of Robert Thompson, an attorney representing two of the victims, along with co-counsel Mason Martinez.
"The criminal justice system has dealt with Mr. Yeh," said Thompson on Wednesday. "We are here to hold the school responsible for their actions and inactions, particularly the fact that they had a report of abuse by Mr. Yeh and ignored that, which allowed Mr. Yeh to continue to be employed at that school and go on to abuse several other girls."
Yeh taught a first and second grade combined class at El Crystal Elementary School, which closed down in 2018. He then taught another combined first and second grade class at Allen Elementary school until 2023, when he was arrested.
All four victims are referred to as Jane Doe's and by their first and last initials to protect their identity.
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According to the suit filed by Thompson and Martinez, Yeh encouraged two of the Jane Doe's to skip recess and spend time alone with him in his classroom. He engaged in a game called "tickle time" with them, during which he would molest them.
"He played games with her, making it seem like it was a game when he was touching her inappropriately," said the mother of one of the victims during the press conference.
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The names of both parents who spoke at the conference are being withheld for their privacy.
The suit alleges that administrators at the school district first became aware of accusations against Yeh as early as the 2016-17 school year when multiple El Crystal Elementary School students told administrators that Yeh had pulled down a female student's pants while hugging her and looked down the pants of another female student.
Instead of investigating the accusations or notifying law enforcement, school administrators allegedly dismissed the complaints.
Prosecutors in San Mateo County said the first victim came forward in 2017, "but was called a liar" by the administration at El Crystal Elementary School, according to the suit.
The principal of El Crystal Elementary School at the time was Jeanne Elliott, who allegedly forced the victim and a witness to have a meeting with Yeh and recant their allegations.
Elliott allegedly sent a letter to all parents of the school in which she called the victim a liar, according to court documents.
Thompson said that The District Attorney's Office is considering filing charges against Elliott and the district's superintendent at the time, Cheryl Olson, for their alleged indifference toward the accusations about Yeh raised by students. Olson subsequently retired two months after the students came forward regarding Yeh's abuse in 2017, according to the lawsuit.
Elliott and Olson did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
The suit alleges that the school district's failure to take intervening action against Yeh or go to police with the accusations further allowed the abuse to continue and more students to become victims.
"Our parents feel that they placed their trust in the school district," said attorney Valerie Rose, who has filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of another known victim. "They trusted them to do the right thing when they received information, and that that trust was violated."
A request for comment from the San Bruno Park School District was not returned.
A mother and a father of two of the victims discussed the lasting impact the abuse has had on their children.
"She was and is now still very affected by what happened and so is our family," the mother said. "I've seen a lot of changes in her because of this."
Both parents said they only found out about the abuse of their daughters when police were investigating Yeh. Both of the victims began cutting their wrists following the abuse, the parents said.
"She was a very emotionally stable and happy daughter," the father said. "She has drastically changed as a result of this."
The first victim who came forward to report Yeh also spoke at the press conference. She is being represented by personal injury attorneys David Winnett and Michael Hale in a separate lawsuit against the school district.
In the suit she is referred to as "IZ." She was between the ages of six and seven when Yeh abused her.
"It was really, really hard, especially at the beginning, by being told that I was lying," IZ said with tears falling down her face. "It definitely took down a lot of hope for me."
IZ said she decided to come forward because she thought it would make it easier for other girls to do so as well.
The five attorneys who are representing the four victims are hoping that the lawsuits spur other potential victims of Yeh to speak out.
"We strongly believe that there are other girls out there who have been abused by Mr. Yeh," Thompson said. "We hope by filing this lawsuit, that they will feel empowered to come forward and tell their stories."
