The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board has agreed to pay three former students of Langdon Avenue Elementary School in North Hills $24 million to settle claims that they were sexually abused by their teacher, David Ostovich, in 2006 and 2007.
Now in their 20s, the three plaintiffs – identified by Jane Doe pseudonyms – filed separate lawsuits in LA and Van Nuys Superior Courts in 2021. The girls were 6 to 9 years old when they were allegedly sexually harassed, abused and molested repeatedly by Ostovich in his classroom during school hours.
Ostovich was in his late 40s when he began grooming and eventually molesting two of the girls while teaching fourth grade, the lawsuit alleged. He was later moved to teaching first grade, where the third plaintiff said she was abused.
He would ask the girls to stay with him during recess and lunch behind closed doors in his classroom, according to the lawsuit. He would touch, rub and improperly hug them in addition to having the students sit on his lap and sexually abuse them.
Jane Doe 1 began regularly vomiting after enduring sexual abuse by Ostovich, court documents state, which even required her to visit the nurse’s office on multiple occasions.
LAUSD is accused of ignoring and covering up Ostovich’s sexual abuse and harassment of students, despite numerous staff, teacher and parent complaints from before, and during, the abuse of the plaintiffs.
Before the incidents at Langdon Avenue Elementary, Ostovich worked at Germain Street Elementary School in Chatsworth. While there, he received dozens of complaints from administrators, teachers, parents and students about his inappropriate behavior, according to the lawsuit. Ostovich initially worked as a volunteer at Germain but was later hired as a special education aide. In 2003, parents and staff complained to LAUSD administrators that they observed Ostovich touching minors, including that he had girls on his lap and had his hand in a girl’s back pocket.
Despite incidents and complaints, court documents show that Ostovich received no formal discipline or increased supervision. Instead, he got “positive performance evaluations and even awards” from administrators and “LAUSD paid for Ostovich’s college tuition to obtain his teaching degree.”
After a teacher blocked Ostovich from being hired for an open position at Germain in 2005, he landed a job at Langdon, since no written documentation of his past behavior was shared with administrators at Langdon, the lawsuit states.
“This is an outrageous case that highlights LAUSD’s systemic failure to protect children from known child molesters,” said David Ring, attorney for the plaintiffs. “LAUSD received many complaints about this perpetrator’s interactions with girls, and instead of firing him, they … allowed him to move quietly to another school, where he continued to molest more girls.”
Ring said more than 20 complaints were made about the teacher’s behavior before his removal.
According to the lawsuit, in July 2007, during Leah Perroti’s first month as the new principal of Langon, a parent requested her child be removed from Ostovich’s classroom because he was “too friendly with the girls” and “touches the girls.”
Ostovich received a written reprimand and was warned that a child abuse report would be filed if another accusation was made against him, court documents show. Despite the warning, Perroti continued to receive complaints from multiple teachers that Ostovich was touching female students inappropriately, including Jane Doe 3.
After at least 10 complaints, in December 2007 Ostovich was removed from the classroom and a Suspected Child Abuse Report was filed with the LA Police Department (LAPD), who then conducted an investigation, according to the lawsuit.
Ostovich was arrested and criminally charged in 2009 for multiple counts of child molestation. He pleaded no contest to two counts of assault and battery and his teaching credential was later revoked by the state.
LAUSD is settling with the plaintiffs for the accusations of sexual abuse of a minor; intentional emotional distress; negligent hiring, supervision and retention of an employee; negligent supervision of a minor; failure to report suspected child abuse; and failure to properly train staff on the sexual harassment policy.