LAWSUIT
Couple poised to sue teacher, school board
NEWFANE — Detailing allegations against a former special education teacher accused of trying to seduce their daughter, a Newfane couple is ready to sue the teacher and the Newfane Central School District.
The supporting documents charge that the school district knew the teacher, Allan V. Grogan, had “propensities to ‘get close’ to female students.” It asserts that the district sent Grogan a warning letter during the 2007-08 school year regarding his contacts with another female high school student.
The paperwork charges that the district “either failed to continue to monitor his actions, or it observed his actions and failed to intervene.”
It accuses Grogan of “sexual advances, sexual conversations, inappropriate sexual touching, [and] dissemination of pornographic materials.”
Grogan, Superintendent Gary J. Pogorzelski and Board of Education President Patrick Kilcullen could not be reached to comment Friday.
Court papers filed this week in State Supreme Court sought permission from Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. for a late notice of claim, a mandatory preliminary to a suit against a school district or local government. No date has been set to argue that motion.
Grogan, 50, of Derby, was arrested April 21 and resigned from his teaching job May 5, ending a six-year stint as a special education teacher at Newfane Senior High School.
He waived a felony hearing in Town Court May 12 and is free on $5,000 bail.
“I think the thing is being presented to a grand jury,” the parents’ lawyer, James R. Walsh, said Friday.
Niagara County Court officials said they had no scheduled court appearances for Grogan.
He was originally charged with a felony count of disseminating indecent material to a minor, and six misdemeanors: four counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
“He was attempting to carry on a sexual relationship with her,” Walsh charged.
The alleged victim turned 17 during the school year. Her mother said in a court affidavit that she examined her daughter’s cell phone records and found that Grogan had called the girl 79 times between December and March, and the girl had called Grogan 52 times.
The papers charge that the relationship between Grogan and the girl began in September, but the mother wrote that phone records for September through November have so far not been obtained.
The filings assert that Grogan e-mailed the girl what the mother considered to be “sexually explicit language.”
Notices of claim are supposed to be filed within 90 days of the action that gives rise to a lawsuit. Walsh said that since the family believes the incidents began in September, that was when the clock started running, even though the mother didn’t learn of the alleged incidents until April.
Walsh said if Kloch allows a late notice of claim, the district or Grogan could demand testimony under oath from the girl in a closed hearing within 30 days. Then, the parents would have until December to file their lawsuit.
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