School district to pay $2.25m to family after teacher has her student's baby
A Southern California school district has settled a lawsuit involving the teacher who got pregnant while sexually abusing two of her students, agreeing to pay $2.25 million to the families.
The teacher gave birth to one of the students' babies as the lawsuit was going on. The settlement brings the total amount paid by the Redlands Unified School District to $8.25 million, the Southern California News Group reported. Laura Whitehurst’s victims have been receiving compensation from the district since her 2013 arrest.
In August 2016, the district agreed to pay $6 million to a former student who impregnated Whitehurst while she was his teacher. The latest lawsuit was filed in 2021 by another former student who alleged he was preyed upon and sexually abused at Redlands High School by Whitehurst in 2007 and 2008 when he was 14, according to the plaintiff’s attorney, Morgan Stewart.
Whitehurst admitted to police in 2013 that she had sex with the youth 10 to 15 times in her classroom and at her apartment, a police report stated.
Former Citrus Valley High teacher Laura Whitehurst talks with a lawyer during her initial trial (AP)Redlands Unified spokesperson Christine Stephens said Friday that the district was aware of the recent settlement but could not comment due to confidentiality agreements.
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In the other lawsuit, the boy who fathered Whitehurst's child alleged that Redlands Unified officials knew of his relationship with the teacher and failed to warn his family. Whitehurst gave birth in 2014 after having sex with the boy for a year, starting when he was 16.
According to previous reports, the student and teacher met for romps, often unprotected, at her flat, and she claimed her pregnancy was “a miracle” because she feared she could not conceive. Whitehurst, who reportedly also had flings with two other pupils, was jailed just two months after having her baby daughter.
Lawyer Vince Finaldi, who led the civil case against Redlands Unified School District, said the settlement was the biggest against any public entity in the country involving child sex abuse.
He said to Redlands Daily Facts: “That number didn’t get there by accident. The evidence we were able to deduce against the district of its knowledge that this was going on and its complicity was so voluminous they had no choice but to settle the case. It was that bad.”
Redlands High School Southern California pictured here (Facebook)The former lovers share custody of the child, now nine years old, said Mr Finaldi. Whitehurst served only half of her 12-month sentence handed out in August 2013. She had faced up to 29 years on 41 sex charges but got off with a year after admitting six counts in a plea deal.
She was also put on five years’ probation and will be registered for life as a sex offender. Busty Whitehurst, who taught English at Citrus Valley High School, Redlands, was arrested after the boy’s mum told her bosses that her son was the father of her baby.
He later told a court that he had been left scarred for life after Whitehurst told him she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He enjoyed the attention, but she should not have fuelled his romantic interests and pursued him.
He said: “I am the father of a child when I am still myself a child.” After her arrest, two other former students came forward saying they also romped with Whitehurst. One said she gave him a blow job in her classroom when he was 14. The pair, now 24 and 22, said the sessions overlapped in 2007 and 2008.
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