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According to The Chicago Tribune, the cello instructor at The Dole Mansion, 70-year-old Kenneth Kang, has been found guilty of 10 counts of attempted criminal sexual assault of a former student.
Kang’s victim was his student between the ages of 9 and 18. She came forward last year when she heard other charges were filed against him. She said on the stand that Kang stuck his hand down her pants on ten different occasions during her weekly music lessons in 2015.
The jury reached a verdict and found him guilty. He now faces either probation or three to seven years in prison, depending on his sentencing. Kang is also currently facing charges of sexually abusing four other people in another case.
Attorney contributor Brian Kent, an experienced sexual abuse lawyer, helps victims of sexual abuse in a school determine if they have grounds for a civil lawsuit. Below Kent provided us insight into the legal options victims have regarding filing a lawsuit against the school or school district.
Kent addressed sexual assault in schools by saying, “sexual predators often place themselves in positions of power and trust. We see this as sexual predators are often found in job positions as teachers or other school staff. Being a teacher allows predators to become close with students, inevitably misusing their power and trust to abuse children.”
We later asked Kent about the obligations of schools to maintain children’s safety. He reported the following: “Schools have a legal obligation to provide a safe learning environment for students. To maintain safety, schools must put in place better safeguards. For example, efficient background checks, monitoring teachers, and taking all inappropriate reports seriously and investigating. If a school does not take proper precautions to uphold its students’ safety, the school can be found negligent. In such cases, the victim and their family may have grounds to file a civil lawsuit.”
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