Schools Settle Sex Harassment Suit

The Simi Valley Unified School District has negotiated a tentative settlement of a lawsuit that accused a high school principal of sexually harassing a staff psychologist for two years until she accepted a demotion to escape him, lawyers in the case said Monday.

Attorneys refused to disclose financial terms of the agreement, but the psychologist who brought the suit, Sara Kopman-Davis, described the amount as “real substantial, especially for a school district.”

“Settlement-wise, I’m satisfied, but money isn’t what I wanted,” said Kopman-Davis, who filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. “I wanted him reprimanded.”

The chief defendant, Apollo High School Principal Brad Greene, declined to comment. His attorney, J. Jane Fox of Ventura, said he denied all the allegations and that the pending settlement should not be considered an admission of guilt.

Greene was accused in the lawsuit of making sexually explicit remarks to Kopman-Davis as part of an effort to seduce her, of touching and grabbing her, and of giving her a poor evaluation in the spring of 1987 after she repeatedly rejected him, said her lawyer, Julia Dragojevic.