WSKG | By Natalie Abruzzo
During a special meeting of the Corning-Painted Post school board on Wednesday, the district approved payments for three separate settlements with survivors of alleged child sexual abuse and sexual assault dating back five decades.
Financial settlements totaling $420,000 were approved for payment by the school district as the named defendant in three separate alleged sexual misconduct cases with three separate alleged abusers.
The settlement money will come from the district’s reserve fund, insurance and other sources not named in the agenda.
The alleged abuse took place in 1970, 1979-1981 and 1989.
The alleged abuse took place at several locations within the Corning-Painted Post school district at buildings owned, operated and maintained by the district at the time.
Each case was brought to the attention of the district because of the New York Child Victims Act, passed in 2019.
The law extends the age for survivors of child sexual abuse to bring claims against their abusers from 23 to 55 years old.
It also allows for both criminal and civil cases where the survivor can press charges against their abuser and file for monetary damages to both their abuser and any institution—whether public or private—that may have been involved in the abuse.
In the three separate cases approved for settlement payments on Wednesday, the school district buildings included Corning Free Academy, Northside Grammar School, Corning-Painted Post Middle School and Corning-Painted Post West High School.
“Out of respect for those who are involved in these cases, whether they were 35 to 50 years ago or not, the district has no comment at this time,“ said Michelle Caulfield, school superintendent for the district.
All three cases are public, however, WSKG did not name the survivors or abusers that were identified in the court documents.