Redlands Unified to pay $505,000 in abuse lawsuit against teacher

The Redlands Unified School District will keep a high school teacher on the payroll until June and pay a $505,000 settlement to a student who claimed in a lawsuit that she was sexually abused by the educator.

The school board agreed to pay the former Redlands East Valley High student to settle a lawsuit alleging that teacher Megan Kelly preyed on and sexually abused her, and that the district ignored obvious signs of inappropriate contact.

As part of the deal, the district must keep Kelly -- who has been on paid leave for 2 1/2 years -- on the payroll until June, when she will be required to resign and will ineligible to reapply to work at the district.

Kelly had to sign off on the settlement as a party to the lawsuit.

Neither Kelly nor the district admitted any liability, according to the settlement documents obtained by The Times under the state Public Records Act.

Kelly, 32, was not charged when prosecutors reviewed the case in 2011. The student, a 2009 graduate, is not being identified because of the nature of the allegations.

“You don’t pay half a million dollars because nothing happened,” said John Manly, the student’s attorney, who also said the district ignored repeated warning signs about Kelly’s behavior.

Manly said the settlement would have been higher if the judge had not excluded information about Kelly’s background, including working as a stripper in her college days.

“Quite frankly, the agreement to pay her for another year shows the district is either completely ignorant of the devastating impact of child sexual abuse or they don’t care,” Manly said.

This is not the first time a teacher in the district has been accused of sex abuse. Laura Whitehurst, a 28-year-old teacher, was sentenced in July to a year in jail for having sex with three of her students, one of whom she had a baby with. Manly’s law firm is preparing a lawsuit on behalf of one of Whitehurst’s victims.

Redlands Unified Board President Donna West said in a statement that the district denied all allegations in the Kelly case but that ending the litigation “is the right thing to do for our district, our students and taxpayers.”

West said the cost of a trial would have been far greater. “This has been a trying experience for many in people in the district,” she said.

The district’s attorney signed off on the settlement Nov. 30.

Kelly, 32, has denied the accusations, and her attorney said she is being falsely accused, pointing out that allegations weren’t reported until two years after the alleged events.

According to the lawsuit, the teacher, who also was a career counselor and coach, began driving the girl after high school soccer practices, excusing her from school and spending long hours with her.

The suit alleged that what began as “sexual talk and innuendo” escalated to sexual activity, much of which, it said, occurred at Kelly’s Yucaipa home.

Manly alleged that the district ignored signs something was amiss. In one incident, Kelly was disciplined after she excused the student from a class in 2009, saying she was working on a soccer event.

Kelly was not at school that day and, after initially authorizing the absence, called back to change it, according to a police report. The principal issued a letter of reprimand to Kelly, records show.

San Bernardino prosecutors declined to charge Kelly, citing insufficient evidence, and noted that the case was “difficult” because the alleged victim had taken two years to report it.

“The only corroboration is the phone records, and although the calling of the student by teacher is probably inappropriate, it doesn’t help us establish there was a sexual relationship between the two,” prosecutors said.

A forensic examination of the accuser’s computer turned up no evidence to support her accusations, a police report said. Manly insists the use of instant messaging failed to create a computer records trail, and Kelly’s electronics were not subject to a search warrant.

In court papers, Kelly’s lawyer wrote that she is “heterosexual” and that the plaintiff had a “crush” on her. The papers also said the dozens of phone calls were mostly connected with the student “coming out.”

Kelly acknowledges in court documents that she had almost daily conversation with the student in a “big sister-little sister” relationship as a mentor concerned about the student’s emotions.

Kelly’s attorney, Randy Winet, had said that while in college, the accuser got help from Kelly on her biology coursework and even came back to school to help with soccer coaching.

The accuser never brought it up until she saw Kelly with her new husband, he alleges.

The school district’s lawyers said that because the girl’s parents never knew “about a sexual relationship with Ms. Kelly,” it is evidence that “sexual acts did not occur.” Initially, the district lawyers had argued the young woman and her parents were negligent, careless and put her in harm’s way.

In a legal response, Manly wrote: “The simple truth is these defenses are variations of the ‘she’s asking for it defense’ disguise, wrapped up in flowery legal language.”

Manly said that throughout the deposition of his client, the district lawyer asked if certain acts were “pleasurable” for her.

Attorney Steve Harber, who is representing the district, said at the beginning of the lawsuit the district had to disclose every possible defense, but never pursued that defense.

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richard.winton@latimes.com