Loyalsock Township Middle School
LOYALSOCK, Pa. – A $3 million settlement has been reached in the lawsuit of a Pennsylvania woman who said she was sexually abused while in middle school by her female basketball coach and that administrators knew of previous allegations and did nothing.
The board of directors of the Loyalsock Township School District approved the agreement in August, bringing an end to a 2021 lawsuit from a Jane Doe who said officials were aware of allegations made by another student against teacher/coach Kelli Vasallo.
Vassallo pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2018 and was sentenced to two years in prison, and a jury heard Jane Doe’s civil case earlier this summer. It returned a $2.8 million verdict in her favor, and the settlement will be paid by the district’s insurer.
At the Aug. 5 board meeting, vice president Michael Zicolello - himself a lawyer practicing in personal injury, employment law and civil rights – said he had attended the trial and felt compelled to address what he heard.
“So, if you wonder why an insurance company looking at this decided to pay $3 million, it is because a jury heard the facts of the case and were, as you would expect, horrified,” he said.
“Horrified by what occurred and horrified that a school district would walk into a courtroom and claim they did nothing wrong. From where I sit as a board member, resident and parent who had three kids go through this school district, the district was wrong.”
School district employee Christina Herman had sounded the alarm on Vasallo after the other girl’s mother showed concerns about the attention Vassallo was giving her daughter, known as L.F. in court documents, prompting a State Police investigation. Williamsport federal judge Matthew Brann said last year that this disclosure made “appropriate persons” in the LTSD aware of a possible sexual relationship.
Former high school principal Matthew Ruiz testified that he heard the investigation “was unfounded” but did not inform any members of the Board of Education about the allegations in 2010.
Jane Doe’s association with Vasallo began three years later, when she was 13 years old. At the time, Vasallo was a coach for the Loyalsock Middle School girls basketball team, and Jane Doe was a member. Vasallo was also a sixth-grade teacher at Curtin Intermediate School in the Williamsport Area School District.
Another coach had recommended Jane Doe talk about a personal problem with Vasallo, but Vasallo allegedly saw this as an opportunity to groom her. Texting progressed to spending time together at Vasallo’s house, where L.F. was apparently living.
At a friend’s house, Vassallo hugged and held Doe’s hand, allegations say. At Vassallo’s house one day, Vassallo told Doe about her feelings and kissed her. Sexual abuse occurred a week later and continued at least three times a week while Doe was in eighth grade, Doe claimed.
Vassallo stopped when Doe entered high school, and a friend told Doe the next school year that Doe had been raped and not in a relationship, leading Doe to disclose the abuse to a teacher, the suit said. That led to a criminal investigation and Vassallo’s guilty plea.
Brann refused LTSD’s efforts to dismiss the lawsuit against it, finding jurors could conclude it showed deliberate indifference. What they were told at trial was convincing enough to return the $2.8 million verdict.
“What I heard was disturbing,” Zicolello said at the school board meeting. “Our district had been advised that a woman we were employing as a middle school softball assistant coach was credibly accused of having sex with a minor girl.
“Did we immediately terminate her from coaching? Incredibly, the answer to that question is no. In fact, we continued to rehire her. And then, while (Gerald) McLaughlin was superintendent, he and his administrative team actually recommended that the district have this coach be given the additional role as a middle school girls basketball coach.”
