Student Sues School District After Having Baby With Teacher

A teenager who fathered a baby with his high school teacher has filed suit against a Southern California school district and also puts blame on the teacher’s parents, who are helping her raise the child.

"Children in Redlands should not be a sex toy for their teacher,” said John Manly, one of the former student’s attorneys who filed the lawsuit against the Redlands Unified School District.

When he was 16 years old and a student at Citrus Valley High School, the plaintiff fathered a child with his then-teacher Laura Whitehurst, according to the 40-page lawsuit.

The plaintiff is now 18 and in college. His attorney said the former teacher told the plaintiff she was unable to get pregnant.

Whitehurst pleaded guilty to having sex with three of her students and was sentenced to a year in county jail. She was released last month after serving about six months.

Whitehurst and her parents, who are also educators, are now taking care of the child. The civil lawsuit accuses the parents of knowing the child’s father was a minor but failing to report it.

“It’s inconceivable that they had no idea who that was,” attorney Vince Finaldi said.

The lawsuit also targets the Redlands Unified School District, accusing school administrators of creating an environment in which teacher-student sex allegations were ignored, specifically by a fellow teacher who they claim knew Whitehurst was having sex with a student but did nothing.

Superintendent of the Redlands Unified School District Lori Rhodes released a statement saying the allegations in the lawsuit are false:

"The allegations in the John BB Doe lawsuit as they relate to the Redlands Unified School District and its current employees are simply untrue. Furthermore, it is shocking that the plaintiff's attorneys have gone beyond suing the district itself and included a teacher who had no role in the events whatsoever."

The attorneys in this case recently settled another lawsuit against the school district in regard to coach Megan Kelly, who was investigated for allegedly having sex with a student. Charges were never filed but the school district agreed to pay the alleged victim $500,000.

The attorneys are not saying how much money they are seeking with the latest lawsuit.

They want Whitehurst to undergo a psychological review. If it is deemed that it is in the best interest of the child for the now-18-year-old father to have full custody, then “that’s what we would request,” an attorney said.

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