There is a new development in a story KRON4 has been following about allegations of the alleged sexual abuse of students at Presentation High School in San Jose.

The all-girls Catholic school is facing legal action.

“Today, we have filed a lawsuit against Presentation High School on behalf of a former student,” the plaintiff’s attorney Kenneth Turek said.

Turek says the victim, whom KRON4 is not naming, was a 15-year-old sophomore back in 2003 when she was allegedly sexually abused by Jefferey Hicks, Presentation High School’s former theater director.

“This abuse, we will prove, occurred both on school ground and off schools grounds including during a theater trip to New York City,” Turek said.

The lawsuit seeks punitive damages and also alleges negligence on the part of Presentation’s former principal, Mary Miller, who is accused of knowing about the abuse but failed to take action, says the plaintiff’s attorney.

“Miller failed to follow mandatory reporting laws which allowed Hicks to stay and be alone with other unsuspecting children for the remainder of that year and an entire summer session,” Turek said.

Over the past 10 months, several similar allegations have been leveled at Presentation High.

In a statement, the school did not address the lawsuit but welcomes the opportunity to tell its side of the story in court rather than responding to what it says are misleading and false allegations posted on social media.

“When the student tried to end the molestation, Hicks told her he would kill himself,” Turek said.

The suit claims the administration shamed the student into silence, allowing Hicks to leave the school with a clean record only to find another teaching job at a school for kids with learning disabilities.

“At that school, he was later found guilty of sex crimes with a minor and is now a lifetime sex offender,” Turek said.

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