The attorney for the family of a preschooler allegedly molested by a teacher’s assistant in San Ysidro told NBC 7 on Monday that he’s getting calls from other parents who fear their children may have suffered a similar fate.
While Sunset Elementary School teaching assistant Jaime Godinez is charged with two counts of lewd behavior with a preschooler, he is also a defendant in a civil suit filed more than a week ago.
“The parent was expecting the child to be safe in the hands of the school district, and the school has failed in those duties,” family attorney Samer Habbas said.
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Habbas included the San Ysidro School District and the girl’s teacher as defendants in that lawsuit. He is asking how, if the school was following its own safety protocols, this could happen to a then 4-year-old, now 5, during nap time.
“There should be no circumstance where a teacher assistant should be unsupervised in any classroom where he can have himself in the position to inflict that type of damage to a minor,” Habbas said.
The teacher responsible for the classroom is mentioned in the lawsuit but not currently facing discipline at the school. The attorney for the family wants to find out where she was at the time as school policy requires multiple staff supervision for preschoolers.
The school district spokesperson says she is limited in what can be said while this lawsuit is pending. In the latest parent notification, sent out on Oct. 6, the district wrote: “Jaime Godinez completed the required fingerprint-based background checks, which were processed and cleared by both the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirming he had no prior criminal record.”
Godinez has worked in the San Ysidro School District for three years. He was a classified substitute teacher and teacher’s aide. Before Sunset Preschool, he worked in the Smythe Child Development Center.
Habbas is investigating the possibility of more alleged victims.
“We can’t speak definitely at this moment whether there are other victims, but we can tell you there are other parents that have reached out,” Habbas said.
The ages of the students at Sunset Preschool are between 3 and 5 years old.
“Getting a 5-year-old to report is a concern, and extracting that information is a concern,” Habbas said.
In the Oct. 6 parent notification, the school district says Godinez has not been back to Sunset since the incident was reported Jan. 15.
“The district immediately placed the employee on administrative leave in an abundance caution. Termination proceedings are now underway,” the district wrote.
“The hope is to have the child back in school. The last thing we want to do is have the child’s education be interrupted,” Habbas said.
Godinez is out on bond pending the outcome of the criminal case.
The civil suit alleges Godinez took an unusual interest in the girl, spent an inordinate amount of time with her and had or was engaging the child in sexual abuse.
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