Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
A sexual abuse lawsuit against a former teacher and the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) has settled for $950,000.
Lawyers for a former SBUSD student, referred to as Jane OB Doe, state the settlement was reached on Tuesday against the district and former teacher Matef Harmachis.
The lawsuit was filed in late 2020 and alleged Harmachis committed sexual battery and assault against Jane OB Doe and SBUSD performed negligent hiring and supervision.
According to the lawsuit, Harmachis repeatedly sexually harassed, groped and assaulted the victim while she was a 16- and 17-year-old student at Santa Barbara High School. It was alleged that Harmachis’ harassment and abuse of the victim often took place in his classroom in full view of other students.
In 2017, Harmachis was criminally charged with battery of Jane OB Doe. He pleaded no contest and received a criminal sentence. As a result, he had his teaching credential revoked by the state, and he was terminated by the district in March 2020.
Jane OB Doe hired lawyers with Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, the same firm that represented sexual abuse victims of former Olympic Team doctor Larry Nassar, former USC gynecologist George Tyndall, and former UCLA gynecologist/oncologist James Heaps; all of which secured multi-million dollar settlements.
“I have never seen a case where a school district ignored so many red flags and allowed a dangerous individual to have unfettered access to vulnerable students,” said the victim’s attorney Morgan Stewart.
In a recent report by The Independent, SBUSD legal counsel stated the district did not admit liability and that the settlement was negotiated through the district’s insurance carrier while Harmachis’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comments.
The lawsuit alleged that Harmachis had a 15-year history of inappropriate behavior with students and was reprimanded over the course of several years. At one point, in 2004, there was an altercation with a student, and then it was additionally alleged he had been making sexually inappropriate comments to female students over the course of the school year.
According to published reports, the district moved to fire Harmachis in 2005, with then-superintendent Brian Sarvis declaring that his presence was “detrimental to students” and that the district “cannot have Matef teaching high school students.”
SBUSD reportedly spent over $1 million in legal fees attempting to terminate Harmachis, who was suspended with pay for nearly five years . Although because he was not convicted of a crime he was reinstated in 2009 after The Commission of Professional Competence found that Harmachis showed “unfitness to teach in some respects,” but that the “conduct does not show such unfitness to teach as to warrant dismissal.”
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January 20, 2021: Credentials Revoked for Santa Barbara Unified Teacher
So the district knew this man was dangerous but they were prevented from firing them by the Commission of Professional Competence? Why didn’t the lawyers go after the commission instead?
How he lasted after the 2nd complaint is beyond me. Shame on the school district for ignoring his behavior and allowing it to continue!!
Blame it on his union. I am generally a union supporter, but not when they help to keep child abusers and pedophiles in close physical contact with defenseless children.
How this guy got shuffled to another school is absolute insanity.
“SBUSD reportedly spent over $1 million in legal fees attempting to terminate Harmachis, who was suspended with pay for nearly five years . Although because he was not convicted of a crime he was reinstated in 2009 after The Commission of Professional Competence found that Harmachis showed “unfitness to teach in some respects,” but that the “conduct does not show such unfitness to teach as to warrant dismissal.”
The district did everything they could to fire him but he was protected. Read the earlier article for more info on it
https://www.edhat.com/news/credentials-revoked-for-santa-barbara-teacher
MM1970 – It’s the “suspended with pay for nearly five years” comment that I don’t understand. How is it any person can be suspended (with pay) for five years and then “reinstated.” During May 2022 a local newspaper reported Harmachis’ “original name” is Leigh Barker. Checking the CA Teacher Credentialing website I find, in part, a person listed as Matef Harmachis had two Teaching Credentials, one Permit and one Certificate “Revoked” between 2000 and 2016. It has not been confirmed this is the same person in question. What is identified as the “Issue Date” on the site, a revocation occurred during 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2008. All, obviously (before) the 2009 reinstatement. There is also an “Expiration Date” column for the revocations. The 2000 revocation expired during 2001 and the 2001 revocation expired during 2006. There is no explanation what an expiration signifies. Two additional Teaching Credentials were revoked (2011/2016) and listed as “Clear.” No idea what the term “clear” signifies. I was unable to locate any record on the site searching with the name Leigh Barker. Without further documentation it can’t be confirmed that any of this information is accurate or relates to any person being discussed here. At best this might make interesting reading.
Oh yeah, suspended with pay? I don’t get it either.
One more catastrophic consequence of the “no criminalization of anything policy” which is so glorified in the country!
3:53 – Life in your fearful fantasy bubble must be excruciating!
When did no criminalization start? Because I see news reports of people being arrested and sentenced to jail every day.
FOND – “no criminalization of anything policy” – can you please cite that policy, statute, code, law, etc?
About time! Every SBUSD involved Trustee, Superintendent & Exec staff aware (& there are several) need to be individually sued, and replaced. Voters: wake up! Parents in denial are a danger to youth.
Did you even read the article? Your comment suggests not. SBUSD did what they could. It was a CA Dept of Ed review commission that reinstated him and made him impossible to fire.
Million here, million there. As a homeowner/taxpayer/parent I am aggravated to hear how our tax dollars are spent. This piece of scum deserves all that is coming to him.
Insurance paid for this, your tax dollars were not affected.
Who pays for the school district to have insurance?
Duh it’s taxes.
“Hotep”
He was moved initially from San Marcos High school after it was known he was a problem. Administration protected him by moving him over to SBHS. He continued with the same behavior there and the SB Board of Education knew about this yet left him in his classroom unsupervised, with no assistant teacher or employee present. Several current board members who were re- elected this past November as well as previous Board member Laura Capps were aware of this situation. He had friends in high places.
Maybe I missed it, but what was the criminal sentence?
“I have never seen a case where a school district ignored so many red flags and allowed a dangerous individual to have unfettered access to vulnerable students,” said the victim’s attorney Morgan Stewart.
Time to clean house.
Well, duh, of course the victim’s lawyer is going to make comments like this. Remember, this is a settlement, not a judged court case.
The School District is NOT at fault here; they did all they could and were legally able in order to terminate this teacher’s employment and to keep him out of the classroom. I’m a strong proponent of the need for unions, but in this case, they did a disservice to citizens, parents, students, and other teachers.
I have a friend who taught and was in the teachers’ union (not in Santa Barbara) who complained that the union wasn’t interested in what was best for students, just what was best for teachers. sometimes those interests do not coincide.
For anyone who has time and is interested, read the allegations in the Complaint For Damages filed 11-30-20 relative to all defendants. It’s a 45-page document. Go to SBCourts.org, click on Civil Index, read the Agreement, check to Continue to Civil Portal, click Smart Search, Submit, Highlight/add Case number 20CV03946, click on View Documents and download. At this point you should have the beginning of the 45-page case. May answer some questions that might not have been addressed. IMO the District didn’t do as much as they should have to help.
The News Press article on this indicated that there are 15 misconduct cases currently ongoing in SB public schools. Interesting claim, although coming from the N-P a grain of salt must be included.