By Gwendolyn Driscoll
Orange County Register [California]
February 27, 2007
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1592168.php
Officials at St. Mary and All Angels School in Aliso Viejo apologized to parents and pupils on Monday for any "concern" raised by the presence on a school panel of a man named in a $1.4 million child sexual-abuse settlement.
The man is John Merino, a former vice principal of Mater Dei High School. Merino served as one of four judges for St. Mary's "Legacy Awards," a ceremony that recognizes an exceptional student leader.
Parents whose children were interviewed for the award as well as the three other judges on the panel were sent a letter expressing "sincere apologies," according to Michelle Jordan, a New York-based crisis communications expert hired by the school.
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| John Merino |
"The premise of the letter is essentially to apologize to all of those concerned," Jordan said. "The well-being of the children is always paramount."
School officials also called parents of Legacy Awards candidates to assure them that children were under the supervision of a school official during the judging process, Jordan said.
Jordan said the school was not aware that Merino was named as part of the $100 million settlement paid by the Catholic Diocese of Orange to settle abuse claims made by 94 plaintiffs in 2005.
"Clearly there was an oversight in terms of doing rigorous enough background checking," Jordan said.
Merino said the charges against him were not credible. He will not attend the Legacy Awards ceremony, scheduled for March 3.
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