To take advantage of this offer on a volvo s90, visit your local dealer. Livestreat the airport. E sport, binge dvrd shows, while painting your toes. On demand laughs, during long bubble baths. Tv on every screen is awesome. The allnew Xfinity Stream app. All your tv at home. The most on demand, your entire dvr, top networks, and live sports on the go. Included with xfinity tv. Xfinity the future of awesome. This is a special edition of nightline. This is a special edition of nightline. Passing the trash. Teachers who cross the line. Good evening and thank you for joining us. Tonight we investigate a hidden classroom tragedy. Its called passing the trash. The practice of School Administrators unloading problematic teachers on to other schools by hiding allegations of Sexual Misconduct. Sometimes even providing recommendations and then looking the other way. Now two brave young women are speaking out to end this. Heres abcs amy robach. He started touching us in improper places. Reporter this is the footage of a young girl alleging abuse in her Elementary School classroom. You werent comfortable in that chair . Yeah. Reporter yeneli hernandez struggling to find the right words to describe the inexplicable, as part of the 2009 Police Investigation into alleged abuse. He touched us like right here and all that. And sometimes he stuck his hands deeper in. And then i used to always wear my jacket and then never wear skirts, i always used to wear pants because i was afraid. So when you say he stuck his hands right here . Was that on your clothes or on your skin . On my skin. Reporter she alleges she was preyed upon by her fourth grade teacher gary gregor. Ten years later she says those memories still haunt her. Hes standing next to so many children who are unaware of the person he is. Reporter a person, it turns out, who had a trail of allegations of misconduct following him for years, across two school districts, from state to state, classroom to classroom. Yeneli says the class was different from the start. Gregor showering a group of girls with gifts. I remember getting a white tshirt with purple flowers on it. It said my name on it. I got a little notebook. It was green. My favorite color. Reporter singling them out for special treatment. He would have us sit next to him in the classroom. As we had elected officials, council members. And i was always on that council. I felt like i had some kind of power in the class. Especially above the other students who didnt get elected. Reporter in front of the classroom, seated next to gregor, yeneli says she became a target for abuse. I drew dots on the spots where we were touched. And different colors are for the different girls. I just felt strange to have to talk about it at such a young age when i wasnt comfortable even saying the words. He told you to go in the closet and then what . Then he said he wanted us to kiss him. The thing i remember most was feeling the warmth of his breath next to my face on my ear. His lips touching mine. It didnt feel right and i didnt want it and i wanted it to end, but i was so afraid. Reporter her story is familiar. It is an explosive reality. The department of education estimates 4. 5 Million Students experience Sexual Misconduct at the hands of a School Employee some time between kindergarten and 12th grade. Another government report found that in its study, on average, one Child Predator in schools had as many as 73 victims. Sometimes without ever being caught. Serious loophole in the state system make it easy for predators to evade detection. School leaders continue to allow predatory teachers to move from one classroom to another. Reporter passing the trash is how many refer to it. An easy way for administrators to unload problematic teachers onto other schools while hiding alleged misconduct through confidential agreements and other means, sometimes even providing recommendations, then looking the other way. They basically say, grease the wheels so that you can go get a job somewhere else, as long as its not here at our school. Reporter attorney dave ring says he has litigated passing the trash cases for more than 20 years. Why do you think administrators allow these teachers to just move on . Its the easy way out. Its the quickest, most efficient solution to get rid of a dangerous teacher. Get them out of our school. Let someone else deal with them. Hold our breath. Reporter gary gregor taught fifth grade in utah, in 1995 the state charging him with sexual abuse of a child. A district judge dismissed the charges citing insufficient proof and the state board of education issued gregor a reprimand. He turned up as a teacher in two other schools in montana and new mexico, before becoming a fourth grade teacher in santa fe. There, during a field trip in 2004, museum staff reported seeing gregor inappropriately touching students. The school investigated, finding that gregor hugged and tickled the girls. The principal writing, i believe this may be grooming behavior on the part of dr. Gregor. Later that year, Santa Fe Public Schools and gregor signed an agreement that he would resign and not apply for another position within the school district. And in exchange he would receive a neutral recommendation. Meanwhile, gregor stands firm that no wrongdoing ever took place. You shouldnt allow a teacher to have a neutral recommendation who youve given this kind of reprimand to. Reporter agreements like this are what congress aimed to stamp out when it passed a 2015 law requiring states to prohibit helping a School Employee find a new job after Sexual Misconduct is found or even suspected. The Los Angeles School district not only hid the truth, it provided three references. Reporter but the law didnt require background checks on School Employees, and with 45 states yet to implement regulations, critics say it has no teeth. Yeneli was one of the few to come forward to accuse their teacher by reporting the alleged abuse to the principal, ruby montoya. Her response was he was a good friend of hers, he wouldnt do it. Reporter montoya placed the blame on the girls, even went so far as going into the classroom to reprimand them. She told the class we shouldnt be making false accusations, she was pretty much calling us liars. Reporter after the alleged public scolding she kept quiet. I felt trapped. I couldnt escape from it. Who was going to believe me . I was a little girl, he was an adult. Reporter her friend told her own parents prompting them to call the police who conducted an investigation. Once the police forwarded their report to the district attorneys office, the case languished. To date, there has been no prosecution. Mr. Attorney general, its been nearly eight years since a young girl and her family brought charges. What do you know about why no legal action was taken . We have a system right now that favors Employment Rights over student safety ryes. Its a real wakeup call for the country. The burden is unfortunately put on the backs of young student realize we have predators who are trained to groom, and simply there were too many systemic failures involved. Most importantly whats detrimental here are administrators are knowingly allowing an educator thats high risk to go seek employment in other districts in other states. I think that is a horrific tale that needs to be remedied immediately. Reporter a yearlong investigation into passing the trash by usa today reporter steve riley found it was extremely rare for administrators to be held criminally accountable. Nationwide, across decades of cases, we found one. A local prosecutor went forward with charges against administrators. Reporter ten years after those difficult days in gregors fourth grade class yeneli has filed civil suits against gregor and montoya. Nightlines repeated requests for interview with gregor have gone unanswered. In a statement to abc news through her attorney, principal montoya said she has dedicated herself to Public Education for over 25 years and that she absolutely denied yenelis allegations adding, they are not supported by the case facts and miss montoya has faith all claims against her will be dismissed in the court proceeding. This is the first step. And the judge issues this scheduling order. Reporter yeneli, now in college, has a simple wish. I would only hope that he would tell the truth. By not saying the truth, he is pretty much calling me a liar straight to my face. Saying that a little fourth grade 9yearold girl is lying about something that hurt her. Reporter she may now also face gregor in a criminal court. Im pleased to announce we have gathered and secured enough evidence that well be moving forward and have notified the individual in question for a grand jury hearing. I was appalled by this case. We are pursuing all options of any potential individuals who failed to provide safety, security, and protection for these children. Reporter yeneli has forged ahead and dreams of making a positive difference in the lives of children. Ive considered being a teacher. I love children so much. I know theres so much i can do for them. Reporter but the damage can be crippling for some. When we come back we go inside the mind of a oncevulnerable 16yearold student who blamed herself for years, now stepping out of the shadows to tell her story, one with a devastating twist. When i got pregnant, this part of me that i thought i was, this woman who was sophisticated and like worldly and wise, just fell apart. 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Tthey are 100 madetoorder,hat which is 100 awesome. 100 beef burgers with fries from dennys. 100 seriously. Seriously, what is this place . Its heaven. Yeah, muscle heaven. You want to take one for a test drive . tires squealing, engine revs the challenger and charger have the most affordable v8 engines in their classes. Check them out now during the fast and furious sales event. The fate of the furious. In theaters april 14th. In dealerships now. Now get 20 off msrp cash allowance on select 2017 Dodge Charger models in dealer stock. Ill be there to comfort you the assembly the other day was one of my best moments here. Ill be there to comfort you the assembly the other day was one of my best moments here. It was one of the most unified times at this school that ive spent. Reporter these should be the precious memories of a high school senior. Instead, they are tainted. He first kissed me in this park in l. A. It was scary. It felt weird and gross. And then, you know, once he started abusing me, it was just like accelerated very, very quickly. Reporter the perpetrator, joseph koetters, english teacher at marlborough, a prestigious allgirls school in los angeles where Chelsea Burkett says he groomed her for an inappropriate relationship that led to abuse. At the beginning it was all about establishing himself as a friend. It started with like academic discussion, moved to more personal. Like we talked about like music. It happened so incrementally that its hard to even perceive the change. What kinds of things would he say to you . He got me very invested in this idea that i was like special, beautiful, funny, sophisticated woman. You were equally responsible for the relationship . Absolutely. Thats what he made you feel. Its a 16yearold girls head. All you want to hear is that youre an adult and youre beautiful and youre smart. Its a very powerful sell. Reporter it wasnt until years after graduating from marlborough that chelsea found the courage to report her abuse to the school, prompting the school to launch an investigation into koetters. The investigation found a longheld pattern of Sexual Misconduct in the 14 years koetters taught there, including often using his position of authority to prompt improper discussions and invitations for further contact. Chelsea believes her former teacher is another example of what it is to pass the trash, now alleging in a civil suit that his was a pattern of bad behavior that began before marlborough when ketters taught at a School Called viewpoint. Turns out he only taught there one year because he got fired for having physical altercation with a student. But what happened was mysteriously enough, viewpoint gave mr. Koetters glowing recommendations. Reporter for chelsea, what started as mental manipulation eventually crossed all lines. And then this. Carls jr. Is where i found out i was pregnant. I remember like shoving a pregnancy test to the bottom of the trash can. When i got pregnant, this part of me that i thought i was, this like woman who was sophisticated and worldly and wise, just fell apart. So i continued to go through the motions but i was just kind of dead inside. Reporter they says her trauma reached a crisis on a winter morning when driving to a friends house to work on a school project. I got like massive cramps in the car. And i was really, really scared. And i started texting him. He said, i think youre having a miscarriage. And sure enough, i was having contractions. And by the time we got to her house, i ran straight in the front door, straight past her mom, and miscarried in the bathroom. All by yourself, and you told no one what was going on . I hated myself. Like i hated myself. And it was my fault. You know . You blamed yourself . 100 . Reporter the shame and selfblaming lasted more than a decade. How do you live with a secret like that . It it manifests in all kinds of ways, right . Be it depression. I became like severely bulimic when i got pregnant and was for over seven years. It was literally eating you up on the inside . Absolutely. I tried to kill myself in college. My sort of working assumption in life was that i wasnt worth anything. Reporter then a moment in june of 2014 that made her see differently. When another marlborough alum broke her silence with similar allegations against the same teacher. This essay on xo jane by Michaela Gilbert lurie went viral among the school community. She talked about being sexually harassed by koetters, about him trying to initiate an inappropriate relationship. Reporter the article sparking in chelsea awareness that she was not alone. I met michaela. And she said something like, youre one of nine whos come to me. What was that moment like . That was the realization that, like, oh my god, this guys a predator. It wasnt me, it was him . Yeah. Reporter fearing the abuse may be continuing unabated, chelsea came forward to marlborough in a letter. This time around im not going to stick my head down and hold my breath. Reporter the School Called the police and finally, 15 years after her abuse began, chelsea had her longawaited day of reckoning facing koetters in court. How do you plead . Guilty. Reporter her voice quavered. Eventually it all imploded. I found out i was pregnant in a dirty carls jr. Bathroom. It cannot be overstated mr. Koetters continued targeting marlborough girls for over a decade after i graduated. Reporter he received a oneyear jail sentence of which he served approximately half. It will never be okay, it will never feel good, it will never be right. But i dont feel i have to hide anymore. Reporter chelsea has filed civil cases not only against koetters but also against both schools, marlborough and viewpoint. The fact that these grown adults who are literally tasks with protecting girls day in and day out could just be so flagrantly negligent, i dont understand why schools arent held to account more. Reporter attorneys for koetters, viewpoint, and marlborough declined nightlines request for interviews. Marlborough provide statement it had no knowledge of koetters sexual abuse of the two former students until our alumna courageously reported her abuse to the school in 2014, and when the school hired him koetters received recommendations from his prior employer. Viewpoint denied these claims saying in a statement koetters was terminated after he shoved a male student during an altercation. There was no Sexual Misconduct of any kind that came to the attention of the school. Adding, while koetters did obtain a recommendation letter from his department chair, he did so by assuring that teacher that he had disclosed the shoving incident to the school where he was applying for a position. Heres the scary thing. He cant teach in california. That doesnt necessarily mean he cant move to some other state and obtain a teaching credential. Ive seen it happen. Its got to come to an end. The schools, the teachers, the teachers unions, the let me for ledge stores, they have got to step and up make it happen. Reporter for chelsea the road to healing has been long and arduous, but she says she is learning to stop blaming herself. Im sure youve thought about what you wish you could have told yourself at that moment when you were 16. Had you asked me that a year ago, i probably would have said, i would have yelled at myself. Shaken myself. But now, gosh, i wish someone had been there to tell me to speak up at the time. I think my life would have ended up a lot differently. Reporter for nightline im amy robach in los angeles. Our thanks to amy robach for that report. And well be right back. Enough ive tried enough laxatives to cover the eastern seaboard. 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