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	Bonita Aims to Stem Sex Abuse Program Should Be Wider, Critics Say By Frank C. Girardot San Gabriel Valley Tribune April 29, 2007 http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_5777871 La Verne — Less than a decade has passed since the Bonita Unified School District agreed to set aside $100,000 for a program to prevent and identify sexual abuse in the district. The fund, a condition of the district's excess liability insurance, grew out of a $2.1 million settlement the district paid in 1999 to a female student molested by David Dangleis, a teacher at San Dimas High School, according to school officials and court documents. The training program that grew out of the fund continues to be praised by administrators, despite some high profile cases of molestation by Bonita Unified teachers. From 1998 to 2006, the district had four instances where teachers were arrested and convicted of molestation or attempted molestation. Connie Valentine of Sacramento-based California Protective Parents, an activist group that wants to make schools and churches safer for children, said it was unusual for a district to have so many claims in a similar period of time. She said any sort of training was a good first step. "This sort of training can be put to effective use if it is educating administrators. It should also contain a tremendously good check on prior history of any employee." Valentine said it is unfortunate that Bonita Unified's program targets only administrators and not teachers or students. One student who could have benefitted was Matthew Wanamaker, according to his mother, Cheryl Wanamaker. Matthew was molested two years ago by a woman who taught him in elementary school. On April 20, Wanamaker, 17, was the subject of an areawide search after district officials accused the teen of making threats against Bonita High School just before he disappeared. Three days later, Wanamaker was found in an Ontario motel room. He gave up when he saw the police approaching his room, his mother said. Three accomplices were later arrested and the guns recovered. One of those arrested was 44-year-old Kimberly Valazza, a neighbor of the Wanamakers who struck up a friendship with the teen over the Internet, Cheryl Wanamaker said. Matthew Wanamaker remains in custody at the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. Despite the Wanamaker case falling on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings and just days after the Virginia Tech massacre, Wanamaker's back story has its own tale of sexual molestation. For that reason, his mother questioned the program's overall effectiveness. "I think should do a little more than they are doing," she said. The anti-sexual abuse program was developed by the district and the Agos Group, a Boston-based human resources firm that has also consulted the Catholic Church on similar issues, according to Bob Brinegar, the district's assistant superintendent of human resources. Brinegar said the company provides training materials including films that are designed to highlight the profiles of offenders and victims alike. "These are really quite dramatic," Brinegar said. "There are interviews with offenders and commentary by victims. It's very powerful stuff." The Agos company promotes the program, called "Smarter Adults - Safer Children" on its Web site as "designed to protect children from wrongdoing, negligence and accidents." It consists of a DVD and other training materials that, according to the Web site, point out "the warning signs of child sexual abuse and of abusers; how to appropriately respond to suspected child sexual abuse; and what caring adults can do to prevent child sexual abuse in their workplaces, homes, and communities." According to Brinegar, the materials are directed primarily at administration officials and staff. Teachers and volunteers are not similarly trained. "This training is for the staff that supervises those people," he said. In 2006, Allen Avenue Elementary School teacher Debra Lynn Pence, 48, of La Verne pleaded no contest to one count of molesting Matthew Wanamaker. She received five year's probation and was required to register as a sex offender. Just two weeks before Pence's arrest, Bonita High School math teacher Walter Babst was arrested in an Internet sting for soliciting sex from what he thought was a girl under 14. Babst, 43, of Corona continued to teach at Bonita High for several days after his arrest by Riverside County Sheriff's Deputies. Officials said they had no idea Babst had been arrested until his attorney notified the district. In February, Babst pleaded guilty to attempted lewd acts with a minor under 14, and possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced May 11, according to Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. "I think should have known who these teachers were," Cheryl Wanamaker said. "Whatever's happened to all stems back to (the molestation)." In the 1990s the district lost two lawsuits after teachers Dangleis and Jack Kelley, a soccer coach, were charged with molesting students. The Kelley settlement ultimately cost the district $3.5 million in damages, according to court documents and published reports. Both Dangleis and Kelley served criminal terms. Dangleis now lives in Indio and is a registered sex offender. Kelley is a registered sex offender living in San Diego. Brinegar said the district is not wholly to blame for incidents like the Pence or Babst cases. "What was going on took place away from the workplace," he said. "Hypothetically it's not something we would necessarily be aware of." Brinegar said he does plan to expand the current training program and hopes to include teachers in the future. "We would like to break down some of the film and make it available on the Internet," he said. "As we hire new people we can do the training individually. We may have drawn down that fund. But we will continue to use the materials." Contact: frank.girardot@sgvn.com or (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2717
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