By Robert Haugh
The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) has made a controversial decision to settle with disgraced former teacher and Santa Clara City Councilmember Dominic Caserta.
And it’s going to cost taxpayers big time.
Caserta will get $1.6 million to drop his lawsuit against the District. Wow.
He sued the District because he alleges that his personnel file was leaked when stories came out about female students accusing him of sexual misconduct and harassment.
Caserta ran unsuccessfully for Supervisor in the June 5, 2018, Primary Election.
He withdrew from the race after being accused by multiple female high school students and campaign staffers. That year, he landed on the “Creep Sheet,” a publication detailing public figures accused of sexual harassment or assault.
But Caserta gets more than a large payout for the school district. He gets a lot more:
- He will stay on the SCUSD payroll until 2028. Caserta has not been allowed to teach in a classroom since 2018 and has an office job that is not defined, according to multiple sources. That means the district will pay him his teacher’s salary for a decade without actually teaching. Double wow.
According to Transparent California, Caserta’s total compensation cost SCUSD almost $224,000 for just last year.
- Caserta will also get his healthcare paid by the district until he’s 65. Caserta was born in 1975 so that’s another 25 years of health care coverage at approximately $48,000 per year and escalating. Triple wow.
- SCUSD will provide a “neutral reference” for Caserta according to the terms read aloud at the October 15 SCUSD Board of Trustees Meeting by Chair Vickie Fairchild. That means Caserta could apply for another job involving young females and SCUSD will not be able to disclose Caserta’s history. Quadruple wow.
The vote was 4-1. Fairchild did not disclose who voted against the settlement.
The other Trustees include Albert Gonzalez, Michele Ryan, Bonnie Lieberman and Jodi Muirhead.
Trustees Jim Canova and Andy Ratermann did not attend the meeting.
Gonzalez is currently a candidate for Santa Clara City Council. He did not respond to a request for comment.
[…] #10 – Disgraced Former Santa Clara City Councilmember Dominic Caserta Gets $1.6 Million (and a Lot More) f… […]
[…] Former Santa Clara City Councilmember Dominic Caserta got $1.6 million plus some other major perks in a settlement from the Santa Clara Unified School District […]
Wow! Well if the evidence showed that he did nothing wrong and someone or more leaked information then he deserves something but what he is getting in my civil service opinion is too much unless the school district lawyers feel that is necessary.
However if it’s known who leaked the information, they should be terminated immediately.
If this guy DID do something wrong with girls then he should be terminated and if necessary go to a trial. But again if the District is settling then what happened. I would like to know then why we’re going to pay this amount and who screwed up on the investigation.
Stewart, I was in this man’s class. It was known and talked about among students that he was a perverted pedo, and in his class, thinking he was getting away with it, he would behave as a prancing little rooster, pressing his pants against the rims of desks of young girls and generally being in their physical space. He did everything he is accused of, and more. Look to his teacher aides at the time, I know them and won’t list their names here, for the whole truth. He was in his 20’s as a teacher then and somehow saw himself as a sexual peer of his students. Make no mistake, anyone, he did that stuff. He is a small and infantile man, and the cowardice of the school district is revealed by lack of true justice he has experienced. A cancer on this land. I know what I saw, and there was no mistaking it. We all knew him for what he was, and it’s a shame he has continued to be able to operate as he has. He’ll do it again too. He deserves torches and pitchforks only. Luckily, he’ll get those in Hell when he inevitably arrives there.
Your math is incorrect. He is almost 50. Therefore, the district will only have to provide coverage for 15 years of health care. Otherwise, he made off like a bandit. He is on the payroll until 2028. At that time, he will likely be able to retire with 30 years of service to the district. He is financially well set for life. If I’m Caserta, I’m not showing myself around Santa Clara or anywhere around Santa Clara County as the County’s tax dollars helped fund his transgressions.
What does he do with all this free time?
This is shameful and typical of liberal California cowardice.
Uhhhh…$177k is not a teacher’s salary. Hes making even more.
The person who leaked his personnel file has cost this district (and/or their insurance company) a lot of money
Who was the lone brave trustee to nix this theft of school funds and taxpayer money? Did Gonzalez have the cajones? Isn’t he backed by 49er money like Caserta? Why would the school board president agree to read this into the record? Vickie Fairchild! Did you agree to this windfall for this creep? As a parent of 2 girls this is a disgrace. The school board needs to clean house. Let’s hope Gonzalez loses on November 5 and the next round of candidates get some opposition that will stand up to perverts like Caserta.
I don’t want to contribute any of my tax dollars to this guy. Halloween is here soon, maybe we can scare Mr. Caserta. I know where you live. Trick or treat.
Here’s the 5 step Program:
1) Get job teaching at SCUSD
2) Be a perv in the classroom
3) Get SCUSD to start an investigation
4) Get a friend (also on the take) to anonymously release said investigation
5) Sue the District and BOOOM – your set for life!
Your welcome ~ Ted
Heck sign me up! Just like the City of Palo Alto. They are self insured and there have been many times that people would intentionally trip or injure themselves on City property then sue and get a great settlement only because the whiney city council didn’t have the balls to say” see you in court “ and therefore settled out of court.
Good grief. The district needs to get new lawyers. They gave away the shop. They should have gone to trial. Yes, if his personnel file was leaked the district is liable. But a good trial lawyer could convince a jury that all that information would have become public anyway as the victims would have made their complaints public and some did. Just how sympathetic would a jury be to this guy?
I was in this man’s class during my Senior year in 2001-2002, one of the years that seem to be contained in the complaints of his personnel file. He threw me out of his class over snark I gave him when he was allowed to create our graduation seating (which he somehow spoke out, I guess to help the visibility of his career. His whining baby voice is seared in my mind even now). I watched him place his body against the edges of desks of female students while answering their questions, pressing himself toward them at every possible juncture. I watched him comment frequently on their clothes. I watched him orient the classroom to place his little crushes closer to him. In broad daylight I watched him perv and physically impose on my female classmates. And so much more clearly happened behind the scenes. Now, today, 22 years later, I watch him continue to become rich from his predations. What a porcine piece of trash, trough feeding on our childhoods and our money. Adding injury to injury. A “civics teacher” for sure. We’ve all certainly had a lesson. Run him out of town. The school district may not be able to say anything about him, but we all sure can. May he never know peace in his life.
sorry to hear about your experience Chris – sounds awful!
Forget about supporting school bond measures, look at the taxpayer money thrown around.
Time to talk about cabbages and kings.
Yesterday, FPPC fined caserta $22,000.
Caserta indicted for forgering a deanza payroll voucher
Michele Ryan and Caserta support Jain
Watanabe running for school board
Jain in 2020 assisted Caserta in lobbying for Flavored tobacco sales.
All schools board members are tight with 49er5. Michelle Ryan awarded her buddies Hardy and jain a robotics team despite opposition by school officials. School district let Jed raid its coffers and steal back $14M for property tax appeal.
No more bonds. No more parcel tax. Work with what you got, Baby!
Talk about a shakedown. Is Casherta’s attorney on the 49er payroll?