Outraged parents protest outside Redlands school meeting after sexual abuse allegations
Redlands parents crowded their school district's meeting after a CBS News investigation uncovered dozens of child sexual abuse allegations going as far back as 1999.
"Redlands is as bad as they come in our experience," said Saul Wolf, an attorney representing the victims. "The administration, in our opinion, is the problem. With so many people remaining there, that have been there for so long, and nothing changes — well you're going to see the same problems recurring over and over again."
The CBS News documentary discovered 50 students have accused more than 25 teachers of sexual misconduct between 1999-2022. Of those cases, two of which happened in 2022, 11 were investigated by police which resulted in the arrest of nine teachers. According to the Department of Education, an estimated 12% of all public school students in the United States experience sexual misconduct by the time they graduate high school. This equates to over 5.7 million children being victimized by their teachers. Currently, the Department of Education is investigating 145 public school districts, including Redlands, for allegations of sexual violence.
The investigation highlighted the case of former Redlands teacher Laura Whitehurst, who originally faced 41 counts of sex with a minor and oral copulation with a person under the age of 18. Whitehurst took a plea bargain and was convicted on six of the counts. Four of the counts involved a case where a 16-year-old boy fathered Whitehurst's child.
She was sentenced to a year in prison. She only served half of that sentence.
Following her release, the victim filed a lawsuit against Whitehurst, the Redlands Unified School District and Citrus Valley High School. The teenager's attorney alleged that a soccer coach knew about the abuse but never reported it.
Outside the school meeting, another student described the alleged sexual misconduct she experienced last year.
"I didn't want to happen but it did," said high school junior Ashley Ranabauer.
Rananbauer said that a 50-year-old teacher at Redlands East Valley High School started harassing her with sexually explicit messages on social media.
"Complimenting my legs, my curvy back pockets," she recalled. "Went so far to say Netflix and chill, he wanted to do that with me."
Ranabauer struggled to talk about the allegations, crying as her parents comforted her.
"Oh I wanted to kill him, especially when I read the messages," said Jonathan Ranabauer, Ashley's father.
He instead reported it to the district last year. The family is still waiting on the results of an investigation.
"The school kind of made it go away," said Christina Ranabauer, Ashley's mother.
Over the past decade, the district has paid out $41 million to 25 victims who have sued the district for past child sexual abuse claims. The district has not admitted any guilt in any of the cases. Wolf said he is handling nine more cases.
"[The] amount of abuse we've seen is like nothing we've seen before," said Wolf.
KCAL News reached out to the Redlands Unified School District for comment. We have yet to hear back.
