MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun
By Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun
As a former librarian at the all-boys Archbishop Curley High School, Annette Goodman says she initially dismissed it as a rumor when she heard last year that a student and a science teacher had sex in a car.
But after a few conversations with the boy, Goodman came to suspect the science teacher had sexually abused him, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Baltimore last week. The science teacher, Lynette Trotta, later pleaded guilty to sexual abuse.
Now Goodman – whom the school fired last year — is suing the school and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, alleging that officials retaliated against her and that they knew about inappropriate conduct by Trotta before they disclosed it to the public. Goodman’s case, filed last week in U.S. District Court, underscores the need for better training on how to report suspected abuse, child abuse experts say.
Goodman eventually reported her suspicions to the school administration, but Baltimore archdiocese officials say she didn’t tell them soon enough.
In the lawsuit, Goodman alleges that school officials knew of Trotta’s “inappropriate physical conduct” with students in February 2014, but did not fire or suspend Trotta. Goodman says she heard what she thought was a rumor on March 6 of that year, but did not confirm it with the boy on March 18.
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