SEATTLE, Two weeks after a Seattle elementary school teacher pleaded guilty to four counts of child sex abuse, the mother of the molested student has sued the school. She claims the district ignored signs that the teacher was behaving inappropriately.
According to the lawsuit and police report, Laurence E. Hill, a 55-year-old fifth grade teacher at Broadview-Thomson Elementary School, groomed the girl with gifts and letters before sexually assaulting her. The abuse was public enough that other students considered Hill to be a molester. The girl, who is now age 14, was abused for two years – even after she graduated.
The lawsuit accuses the district and the school’s former principal of ignoring complaints by other teachers, school employees and another principal about Hill’s inappropriate behavior. According to the police report, six other girls said they had been touched or kissed by Hill.
