LAUSD Acting Superintendent Cleared Coach Who Later Abused Nine Students
Andres Chait allowed suspended wrestling coach Terry Gillard to return to a Los Angeles high school in 2016. Gillard went on to abuse nine students over 14 months.
LAUSD Acting Superintendent's 2016 Decision Preceded Coach's Abuse of Nine Students
Andres Chait, now acting superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, personally authorized a suspended wrestling coach to return to John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in April 2016 — a decision that preceded 14 months of sexual abuse against nine student athletes, NY Post Metro reports, citing a newly uncovered deposition.
The coach, Terry Gillard, is currently serving a 71-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him in 2019 on 47 counts involving child molestation and other sex crimes against 15 minors, including children as young as 11.
Suspension, investigation, and return
Gillard had been placed on reassignment and suspended after a campus aide accused him of repeatedly offering her money in exchange for sex, according to the deposition. The case was referred to the LAUSD's Student Safety Investigation Team.
Chait, who at the time served as the LAUSD administrator responsible for the northeast district, did not issue the standard 72-hour notice to parents on the grounds that "there were no students involved." At the conclusion of the investigation, he decided Gillard could resume his duties with a reminder of relevant district policies.
"My initial thought — and it ended up being ultimately what I did — was that we had a case where you had, you know, a categorical denial by Gillard of having done anything," Chait said under oath during a video deposition taken as part of a compensation claim by victims. "You had nothing in terms of corroboration. Gillard had no prior incidents. He hadn't been written up for anything before. There were no prior concerns. So at that point, it was my thought would be that he would be sent back to Poly."
14 months of abuse
Gillard returned to the school on April 18, 2016. Over the following 14 months, he coerced wrestlers into sexual acts with him and with each other, often in a van belonging to the nonprofit Boys and Girls Club, court papers show.
He was only arrested after a 17-year-old female wrestler secretly filmed him sexually abusing her in his car and brought the recording to principal Ari Bennett in June 2017. Prosecutors alleged Gillard had been abusing children since 1991, frequently forcing victims to engage in sex acts while he watched. Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky, in sentencing Gillard, said he had exploited his position of authority to prey on students he was supposed to protect, "destroying their innocence and forever altering their lives."
In 2022, the LAUSD paid $52 million to settle a lawsuit brought by his victims.
Plaintiff attorney Morgan Stewart, who questioned Chait in the deposition, said after the settlement that the district "placed Gillard back into an environment with minor students following a suspension for sexual misconduct" and "made no efforts to warn students or their parents of the risks they faced at his hands."
Chait's broader context
Chait was appointed acting LAUSD superintendent on February 27 after Alberto Carvalho was suspended on full pay amid a corruption investigation that included an FBI raid on Carvalho's family home in San Pedro. Law enforcement sources say Carvalho, 61, is being probed in connection with the collapse of a multimillion-dollar AI project; he continues to collect his $440,000 annual salary. Hong "Grace" Peng, 53, a technical project manager, has been accused of orchestrating an alleged $22 million kickback scheme and has pleaded not guilty.
The district has also drawn criticism for a last-minute decision to offer teachers and staff pay increases that could cost taxpayers $1.2 billion, even as students in the district record lower average scores than the state as a whole.
Chait's official LAUSD biography describes him as bringing "decades of experience as an educator and district leader" and credits him with "a strong track record of student-centered leadership and operational excellence." Neither Chait nor the LAUSD responded to repeated requests for comment on the Gillard deposition.
Source: NY Post Metro