Montville schools to pay $455,000 in sex assault related lawsuit

Jun. 17—The Montville School District has agreed to pay $455,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who was a 17-year-old Montville High School senior when she was sexually assaulted by a teacher in 2008.

The amount of the settlement in the case of Jane Doe v. Montville Board of Education was revealed this week by Kelly Reardon, the attorney for the victim.

Reardon said the proposed settlement was reached as jury selection was beginning in anticipation of a trial.

The settlement ends a lawsuit filed in 2019 by one of two victims of former Montville High School music teacher Russell N. Andrews, who was sentenced to seven years in prison and 20 years of probation in 2009 for sexually assaulting two girls, ages 17 and 18, when he was 34. His relationships with the students included assaults that occurred in the school.

Andrews remains on the state's sexual offender registry and living in Plainfield.

Andrews pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault. Prosecutors, at the time of his sentencing, said Andrews had used his position to groom his victims and take advantage of students who were reaching out for help.

The lawsuit alleged the Montville Board of Education was negligent in, among other things, failing to report suspicious behavior by Andrews or properly vet Andrews' prior to his hire. Reardon said the school district did not admit liability as part of the terms of the settlement.

The then-17-year-old victim in the case, in an interview this week, said this episode in her life led her into a "really bad downward spiral for years, making poor decisions, and I guess trying to deal with my trauma the way a 17-year-old would."

"I didn't get a lot of support from peers. I wasn't treated very fairly. That really took over my life after I graduated. I had a lot of issues going out in public, the fear of running into people," she said.

Russell had left two previous school districts ― Hamden and Lebanon ― under suspicious circumstances. An investigation later revealed that Andrews left Lebanon schools with a separation agreement and Hamden with a "memorandum of understanding," that he would resign and the district would not oppose his claims of unemployment compensation.

The Montville school district argued in court filings that both of Andrews' previous school districts provided letters of recommendation and proper protocol was followed in the hiring process.

But Reardon argues "one simple phone call would have made a difference."

"(Andrews) indicated in his application he had left a school in the middle of the school year, which should have been a red flag to at least find out why," Reardon said. "They would have found out he was asked to leave because he was viewing pornography of teenage girls on a school computer."

The victim in the Montville case, who is now 31 and a mother, said she doesn't think she will ever be completely over this episode in her life. The Day does not identify victims of sexual assault.

"I honestly think there are parts of me that will never heal. Even though it doesn't define who I am, it will always be a part of me, no matter how old I get," she said. "There's been a lot of permanent damage done to me mentally. I'm always going to have to deal with it. I still think I have a lot of work that needs to get done to move forward. I'm a lot better than where I used to be. It just takes time and work."

Reardon said one distressing aspect of the story is how the victim was "treated as if she was the seductress."

"Was there an aspect of a girl having a crush on their teacher? Of course, but the power imbalance and the manipulation that occurred was really significant and part of the crime," Reardon said. "She was manipulated into believing this teacher loved her."

Reardon said the case was "never really about the money."

"If it was about the money, she would have gone to trial. It was really about holding the school accountable for what they failed to do and that was to protect her and other girls at the school." Reardon said.

A representative for the school district did not respond to a request for a comment.

g.smith@theday.com