Photo: KTLA
A former Legacy Christian Academy teacher is suing the private K-8 school in Valencia, claiming harassment, discrimination, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress in a lawsuit naming her former employer, the school’s founder and two administrators.
Sabra Ottaviano alleges she was harassed because of her divorce from her husband, who also works at the school, according to the lawsuit. The suit also claims school officials defamed her by lying about her being drunk at a school fundraiser, in order to create grounds to fire her.
Legacy Christian Academy officials were contacted for this story, and did not respond to any specific claims mentioned in the lawsuit, and instead released the following statement:
“Dear Legacy Families,
“You may be aware that this last week, one of our former teachers distributed on-campus copies of a complaint she had filed initiating a lawsuit against our school regarding the termination of her employment, which had occurred earlier this year. She was also interviewed by [KTLA] regarding her accusations.
“We would like you to know the following: 1. The complaint and the media coverage do not accurately describe the reasons for her termination and contain many other inaccuracies. 2. Beyond that, we will not comment as we do not publicly discuss the details of personnel actions in accord with our policies.”
Ottaviano worked for Legacy Superintendent Tim Borruel from 1993 as an operator of one of his child care centers, to April 2015, when she was put on leave, investigated without a chance to defend herself and then fired with five weeks left in the school year, according to her lawsuit.
Ottaviano claims Borruel, the school’s co-founder, “stressed” to Ottaviano she “‘needed to be able to represent that she had a ‘biblical’ divorce — meaning that the divorce was caused by abandonment, abuse or adultery. … When Ottaviano refused to do so, Borruel indicated that he would tell others that she was separated but desired to remain married,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial; punitive damages to punish and deter; and attorney fees, among other costs.
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15 Comments
What drama! I hope she finds peace.
Rhonda Marshall Stout
I’ve heard the worst things about that schools administration. Whatever the truth is, I hope it’s discovered quickly.
It states her ex-husband also works at the school. No mentioned if he was fired for not having a ‘biblical’ divorce (abandonment, abuse etc). Smh
Biblical divorce? This isn’t a catholic religion lol
He does not work at the school, that is a false statement
Jenna Organ Jenn Rosenfeld Amanda King Lambdin remember Sabra?
Yes. Too crazy.
Summer Robbins
Perfect bangs.
Jennie Florian Barnard
Carol Gleason Topping
WTHeck –
“needed to be able to represent that she had a ‘biblical’ divorce — meaning that the divorce was caused by abandonment, abuse or adultery. …”
She looks like she’s going to eat me tho
She looks like she’s going to eat me tho