Is anyone seriously interested in solving the epidemic of student sexual abuse at Santa Barbara Unified? If so, we need to start asking uncomfortable questions and digging much deeper into “The Dirty, Disgusting Dozen”, the 12 publicly disclosed cases of sexual abuse that harmed scores of underage students and cost millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded settlements.
Let's start our tough questions by asking "Who was in charge?” Do we know who was in the direct reporting line during these crimes and what happened to the administrators in charge? Is there something in the Santa Barbara Unified District culture that keeps these and other mandated reporters from hearing, seeing, or reporting these crimes against underage students?
These are not merely theoretical questions about sexual abuse in some faraway lands. If you are reading this in Santa Barbara County, these crimes occurred right here, to our neighbor’s children, in a place many of us think of as a paradise of sorts. But Santa Barbara schools are no paradise for the children abused or the taxpayers paying the huge settlement bills. The court documents themselves speak to several “red flags” and even call out the Santa Barbara Unified District for being “liable for 80%” of the $25 million settlement of Justin Sell’s victim(s).
The abridged table below lists each of the 12 sexual abuse cases at Santa Barbara Unified and the principals and district administrators who were – at the time the crimes were being committed – the perpetrator’s supervisors. This table reveals a curious set of results. First, the number of administrators overseeing the schools during these sexual assault cases was very small and, secondly, these administrators re-appear frequently across several sexual assault cases.
Moreover, nearly all of these principals and administrators went on to have illustrious careers after the assault occurred under their watch. In several of these cases, administrators such as Shawn Carey, Elise Simmons, Tiffany Carsons, and Shannon Yorke were promoted from administrative positions at Santa Barbara Unified to Susan Salcido’s SB County Board of Education. In another case, administrators such as Dave Cash and Frann Wageneck, joined lucrative educational consulting gigs.
Dave Cash weathered the abuse storms at Santa Barbara Unified to enjoy a highly successful administrative career. In 2004, he was the principal of Dos Pueblos High School when Matef Harmachis was accused by district officials of issuing physical threats, making sexually inappropriate comments, using inappropriate physical force, and swearing when dealing with various students in separate incidents. An investigation was started against Mr. Harmachis. Mr. Cash left town to take a job as Superintendent at Clovis Unified, where he later resigned.
In 2011, Mr. Cash was hired back to Santa Barbara Unified School District as Superintendent, the top administrator. During his tenure as Principal and Superintendent, he was in direct leadership during three of the 12 sexual abuse cases, two of which involved record payouts of $1M and $25M in 2023. Mr. Cash retired in June 2016 and is now part of an Education Consulting Firm that is involved in executive service searches for school districts. Mr. Cash’s firm was recently hired by the Santa Ynez High School Board to find a principal for SYHS for the 2023-24 school year, as well as, board governance workshops, executive coaching, and professional development.
Given her administrative oversight during numerous sexual abuse crimes, the ascendancy of Shawn Carey is particularly curious. Ms. Carey became assistant Principal of Dos Pueblos High School in 2008. In 2010, she became principal of Dos Pueblos and was in top administration roles for eight years throughout much of this time Justin Sell was allegedly grooming and sexually abusing at least one young boy at that school. In 2016, Mrs. Carey was promoted to the District Office. During her tenure as Secondary Assistant Superintendent, her job was to oversee the Junior High and High Schools of Santa Barbara Unified School District.
As Principal and Secondary Superintendent, Mrs Carey was in a direct oversight position during seven of the 12 sexual abuse cases against Santa Barbara Unified. She resigned from Santa Barbara Unified in 2022, just before the $1M lawsuit settlement against Matef Harmachis was announced. Ms. Carey was soon hired by Susan Salcido’s office at the SB County Office of Education where she currently serves as the Director of the School and District Support.
As with other sexual abuse cases that occurred at Santa Barbara High School, a similar pattern emerged. No one appears to have seen anything, mandated reports didn’t appear to be filed, and many of the administrators in charge were eventually promoted to Susan Salcido’s SB County Board of Education.
The table, or the myriad questions in this article, do not imply that any of these principals and administrators did anything illegal. We’ll take them at their word that they saw nothing at all. But if so, why do court documents cite “red flags” or deem “80% of the damages” as the responsibility of the district administration? Something just doesn’t add up.
The lack of any administrative responsibility raises questions of its own.
Why are these administrators paid so handsomely and trained so highly (many have PhDs in Education), if basic curiosity as to the safety of students under their care is not part of the job requirement? Jose and Juanita Publico, who have no way to weed out pedophiles in schools, are left paying for both the abuse settlements and the administrator pay and retirement benefits from their property taxes, all the while their kids are at risk from school-based predators. No shared sacrifice? Does that seem right?
Shouldn’t school administrators, who somehow missed nearly every sign along the road, be on the hook for at least something?
If school administrators faced clawbacks of pay and pensions, would that incentive have stoked a more active curiosity as to why particular teachers had unhealthy relationships with their students, especially over long periods of time?
We have raised a lot of questions, the answers to many of which are still blowing in the wind.
But what is clear, is that today’s Santa Barbara Unified administration culture of “hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing” has emerged as particularly convenient and professionally rewarding. Our students get sexually abused, yet somehow the administrators whose job it was to protect them reap rich professional benefits.
Until we figure that out and fix it, expect more child sexual abuse in our local schools, and more huge, taxpayer-funded payouts.
N.B. Two months after we published a list of the 12 highest profile school sexual abuse cases in Santa Barbara that we dubbed “the Dirty Disgusting Dozen”, one of the dirty dozen, Peter Albor Jeschke was re-arrested yet again on Friday, February 2nd. Jaschke was placed in custody for five counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 15 years old.
The administrators who make the big money at Santa Barbara Unified. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/school-districts/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-unified/
It seems to me that your article provides enough detailed evidence to accompany a request to the Santa Barbara Grand Jury to investigate these matters, as so many middle and enior management officials appear to have been infected with an infestation of blindness, deafness, inability to speak and to act.
All of this ignorance of sexual crimes against children in their care is quite incredible.
The seriousness of the crimes, the number of them, the apparent blindness of authority and lack of accountability anywhere in the Santa Barbara school system, the judgement that the school system is liable for 80% of taxpayer funded settlements, is public interest enough, it seems, to make the case for the Grand Jury to investigate and report their findings, referrals and recommendations to the legal authorities and the public.