School Board Discloses Terms of Suit’s Settlement

The Pasadena Board of Education has agreed to pay $355,000 over the next 12 years to a teenage boy who was molested and sexually abused by former track coach Clyde Turner, according to a settlement agreement released Friday.

The boy’s family sued the district last April, saying that he would never have been molested if school officials had disclosed complaints about alleged molestation against the former coach at John Muir High School.

Turner was sentenced last summer to three years in prison for showing an adult video to a 15-year-old student in 1998 and sexually molesting him.

The school board approved the settlement 4 to 0 last month without announcing the terms and conditions or the case name. That silence, First Amendment advocates and board critics said, amounted to violation of the state’s open meetings law.

Subsequently, district officials told reporters the district paid $300,000 to settle the case but declined to release the settlement documents immediately.

They cited a June 23 hearing in Pasadena Superior Court at which Judge Thomas Stoever ordered the court record sealed in the case. But after consulting attorneys about case law that requires public agencies to disclose all settlements, officials Friday released the settlement in response to a Times request under the California Public Records Act.

Under the terms of the settlement, the teenager will receive $290,000 in stages, starting when he is 18 in February. The last payment, $89,600, will be made when he turns 30. His attorneys received $62,500 in fees and $2,450 in costs.

In return, the boy’s family waived all claims against the district.