DELAWARE, OH (WCMH) — A lawsuit against the Olentangy Local School District, former administrators, and former teacher Matthew Rausenberg, for his sexual assault against three victims, has been moved to federal court.
According to court documents, the three victims, along with their families, of former Olentangy teacher Matthew Rausenberg are suing him, the school district, and several former and past administrators for failing to report the sexual allegations to children’s services.
The attorney who filed the federal lawsuit, Emmanuel Olawale, said his clients reported the abuse to two former Arrowhead Elementary School principals.
“They knew or should have known that Mr. Rausenberg was a predator, but they didn’t stop him,” Olawale said.
Olawale said the school district made these parents feel like their claims weren’t valid.
“The board in the school district was more concerned about their own reputation rather than the safety of their children,” he said.
The lawsuit names the Olentangy Local School District, along with Arrowhead Elementary, Rausenberg, district superintendent Mark Raiff, former superintendent Wade Lucas, former Arrowhead Elementary principal Nadine Ross and current Arrowhead Elementary principal William Carlisle III for failing to notify the proper authorities after allegations from the victims of sexual assault by Rausenberg.
According to the lawsuit:
During the period of August 15, 2006 through June 14, 2010, Defendants, Olentangy Board of Education, Arrowhead Elementary School, its superintendent and successors, its principal and successors failed to adequately supervise Defendant, Matthew Rausenberg.
The lawsuit claims the defendants knew or should have known about Rausenberg’s “propensity to engage in sexually in appropriate behaviors with children.”
Rausenberg, a former third-grade teacher at Arrowhead Elementary was arrested in March of 2015 and sentenced in January of 2016 to 106 years in prison after being found guilty on 41 of 42 counts of sexual imposition, kidnapping and pandering obscene material.
The school district released this statement on the lawsuit:
This was not unexpected as it’s a refiling of a previously filed lawsuit that was dismissed. We continue to stand by our previous statement that prior to the arrest, we never received a report indicating this former teacher was involved in activity that would have required reporting to children welfare authorities. If we had received such information, we would have followed our long-established protocol of reporting.
