New Sex Abuse Claim Against Moraga School District

The Moraga school district announced Tuesday that it had received a new claim alleging that a former student was sexually abused by the late Dan Witters, a former teacher, in the 1990s.

This adds to two notices of claim and a lawsuit filed earlier this fall alleging that district administrators could have prevented sexual abuse of students by district staff.

"The Moraga School Board continues to express deep regret for what happened to these students in the 1990s," a press release from Superintendent Bruce K. Burns stated. "Two of our former employees abused children who were entrusted to our care. This will be a source of sorrow and regret as long as we are a district."

Witters, a science teacher at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School, killed himself in 1996.

The new claim involves a claimant who requests confidentiality. In the other two claims filed by "Jane Does" plus the lawsuit by former student Kristen Cunnane (now a Walnut Creek resident), the district has agreed to begin mediation early in 2013. The new claim will also be part of the mediation process, Burns said.

"All of these claims and the Cunnane lawsuit will be placed on the agenda for the board’s Dec. 11 meeting," Burns said. "The board will, to the extent possible, discuss the status of these matters at that time."