KIRKWOOD 鈥 Kirkwood School District will pay a former student $375,000 after she alleged the district failed to intervene when a teacher sexually assaulted her.
The settlement reached by Kirkwood and the student also spares the school district of guilt, as the agreement was a 鈥渃ompromise of a doubtful and disputed claim,鈥 and made 鈥渟olely for the purpose of avoiding the expense and hazard of further litigation,鈥 according to the settlement.
The former student, described only as 鈥淛ane Doe鈥 in court records, sued the district after a slew of sexual assault allegations mounted against the district amid a #MeToo reckoning in 2020.
The suit alleged John 鈥淛ack鈥 Collier began an 鈥渙pen campaign鈥 of sexual advances and stalking against the woman when she was a high schooler during the 1980-81 school year.
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The woman claimed Collier鈥檚 conduct was witnessed by several Kirkwood employees but the district did nothing to stop him 鈥 even after the woman鈥檚 mother reported Collier when she found him throwing small objects at her daughter鈥檚 window to get her attention.
Shortly after, the woman was sexually abused by Collier on one or more occasions, according to the suit.
Collier taught economics and coached football for Kirkwood. He died in 2006.
The settlement bars the former student from disclosing monetary details. The Post-Dispatch obtained a copy through an open records request.
At least one former teacher, Christopher Stephens, faced criminal charges as part a result of the slew of accusations against Kirkwood in 2020. And one woman filed a federal lawsuit against the district and former math teacher and soccer coach David Shapleigh over alleged sexual abuse during the 1980s.
The suit against Shapleigh and the district was settled in April 2022.
Stephens鈥 criminal case is ongoing. He鈥檚 scheduled to appear in court on March 22.
A former student sued the district in 2020 after several women alleged the district shrugged off allegations of sexual abuse.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday says that a former Kirkwood High School teacher sexually assaulted the student in the mid-1980s.
Christopher Stephens, who worked at the high school from 1991-1998, was indicted by a grand jury on statutory rape and statutory sodomy charges.