By Robert Haugh

Disgraced Former Councilman Dominic Caserta left his job as a Santa Clara High School teacher on May 8, 2019.  Caserta is out on paid administrative leave and medical leave!

Caserta has been on paid leave since multiple allegations about sexual harassment and abuse came out last year.

The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) has paid Caserta $128,187. He’s averaging about $12,000 a month in pay, as we’ve previously reported.

Caserta is also threatening to sue the SCUSD for $38 million. Most local attorneys think that’s a joke and will be easily dismissed, especially since Caserta has a weak case and a weak legal team.

SCUSD has paid the law firm of Hopkins & Carley $94,083 to defend against the threats.

SCUSD has paid attorney Patricia Elliot to investigate the allegations against Caserta. That’s part of the process when allegations are made. Elliot worked 54 hours for $16,275.

But Elliot’s investigation won’t be completed! Huh?

Here’s why according to SCUSD Assistant Superintendent Andrew Lucia:

“There is no public record concerning the status of the investigation since that is covered by the attorney-client privilege.  I can tell you that the investigation could not be completed prior to the initiation of Mr. Caserta’s litigation against the District due to Mr. Caserta’s medical leave of absence and other unavailability of his and the District anticipates that the investigation issues now will likely be subsumed by the litigation.”

So Caserta wouldn’t talk to an investigator hired by SCUSD. But he can take a secret polygraph test and sent out a press release to publicly claim he’s totally innocent?

SCUSD Board

Members of the SCUSD Board say they can’t talk about executive session details like the lawsuit. But they are allowed to comment in general terms about the Caserta situation. They just don’t seem to want to make statements or take responsibility for the decisions.

• Michelle Ryan, Mark Richardson and Albert Gonzalez will be up for re-election in 2020.

• Jodi Muirhead, Vickie Fairchild and Andy Ratermann will be up for re-election in 2022.

• Jim Canova will be up for re-election in 2022, too. He’s currently running for California State Assembly and this could be an issue in his March 2020 primary, especially in Santa Clara.