OGDENSBURG (NY)
WWNY - 7 News [Watertown NY]
August 3, 2026
By Diane Rutherford and Zach Jackson
The Harrisville Central School District has been ordered to pay $3.5 million to a former student who claimed he was sexually abused by a third-grade teacher beginning in 1981.
The order follows a jury trial in state Supreme Court last month.
Abuse claims
The plaintiff, identified as E.L. in court documents, was 9 years old when he said the sexual assaults began.
Court papers identified his third-grade teacher, Bette Shampine, as “a serial sexual predator who sexually assaulted and abused plaintiff and many other students” while employed by the district.
According to the lawsuit filed in 2021, E.L. reported the abuse to his parents, who notified the school’s principal, Edward Shafer.
The suit said Shafer “called E.L. into his office and threatened to hold back plaintiff for an additional year of third grade if plaintiff continued to complain about Shampine.”
District’s alleged inaction
E.L. claimed the school district took no action against Shampine and made him repeat third grade. He remained in Shampine’s class.
Court documents claimed Shampine continued to sexually assault him in the classroom and in the boys’ restroom for the next two years.
Court documents claimed the district “breached their duty to protect plaintiff by allowing Shampine to serve as a teacher, giving her access to students despite such knowledge of her dangerous sexual propensities, and by failing to institute any supervision of Shampine’s contacts with students.”
Shampine, E.L. & the school district
Shampine died in a February 2018 house fire in Carthage. Her obituary said she worked as an elementary teacher for the Harrisville Central School District for 31 years.
Court documents claimed E.L. suffers from “severe and permanent psychological, emotional and physical injuries, shame, humiliation and the inability to lead a normal life.”
The school district superintendent did not respond to 7 News’ request for comment. It is unclear if the district will appeal the verdict.