RioSlum Studio

Published – January 8, 2025

In December 2024, Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) paid $17.5 million in a sexual abuse settlement to four individuals. The case was handled by the legal firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. 

According to the lawsuit several victims were sexually abused by gym teacher and tennis coach Normandie Burgos from 1999 to 2005. 

Local News Matters provided the following breakdown of the settlement, addressing the money due from certain parties: 

• “More than $1 million in interest due to the District unsuccessfully appealed the $10 million jury verdict

• $11.5 million to A.H.” (a victim of Burgos according to the lawsuit) 

• “Doe 1 was one of Burgos’s earliest victims and will receive $4.5 million 

• Doe 2 and Doe 3 will each receive $750,000.”

Burgos has an alleged history of abusing students which dates back to the 1999-2000 school year. He was accused of abusing and molesting multiple students while performing body fat tests and stretches on them. 

The lawsuit, filed in 2024, addresses in detail what happened when Burgos measured a student’s body fat. (See image of lawsuit below). 

Tamalpais High School Principal Holleran was informed of the alleged incident, finding the description of the coach’s method of body fat measurement strange and inappropriate. After an investigation of Burgos’s conduct when performing the measurements, the principal ordered him not to do them again: 

(See image of lawsuit below). 

According to the attorneys, this was Holleran’s only disciplinary measure against Burgos. 

In 2003, another victim called “A.H.” in the lawsuit, was similarly abused by Burgos.

On page six of the lawsuit, an explicit description is provided of Burgos performing a stretching exercise on A.H. in an unspecified room. While stretching the student in a violent manner, the coach had locked the door. A.H. realized that the door was locked while hearing people fail to open the door. The victim at that point thought, “What is going on… I think I’m getting molested.” 

Eventually, the school’s athletic director unlocked the door and entered the room. After being asked “What is going on?,” Burgos told the director that he was stretching A.H.’s back. The athletic director recommended another stretching exercise and left the room. Nothing further was done about this incident.

In 2004, Burgos allegedly abused two other students, which was brought to the attention of Principal Holleran the following year through a complaint. According to the lawsuit, “Holleran did not notify any teachers about the 2005 complaint, and he took no additional action to supervise Burgos…”

A few years later A.H. went to the police and relayed his experience as a victim of Burgos. This led to the coach’s arrest in 2006. During the preliminary hearing, A.H. was humiliated for his testimony against Burgos and even called “homophobic” by his former peers, along with the coach who replaced Burgos during his arrest: 

“At the preliminary hearing in 2007, the Tamalpais High School tennis coach who had taken over after Burgos was arrested, current members of the tennis team wearing their tennis gear, and former teammates attended and laughed at A.H. when he testified. At the criminal trial in 2010, A.H. felt ‘further humiliated’ because the defense presented him as homophobic and jealous of other players’ success. The trial ended with a hung jury.” 

In 2017, Burgos was arrested and forthwith sentenced to “255 years in prison for 60 counts of child molestation involving two teen students.” 

Three years later, A.H. sued TUHSD:

“In 2020, A.H. filed a complaint against the District asserting a single claim of negligence. A.H. alleged the District’s employees had a duty to protect A.H. from potential dangers on school grounds during school hours and they breached this duty by ‘failing to take appropriate action against Burgos for the multiple sexual misconduct complaints, failing to so detect and deter Burgos’s sexual assaults, failing to properly supervise [A.H.] and Burgos so as to protect [A.H.] from being sexually assaulted, and thereafter, failing to timely repudiate Burgos’s known misconduct so as to mitigate the emotional distress suffered by [A.H.].’” 

TUHSD Superintendent Tara Taupier addressed the district’s commitment to student safety in light of the settlement and the events that led to it: 

“We have updated policies and practices for both staff and students over the twenty-four years since these alleged incidents occurred. All staff undergo mandatory training yearly, students are also provided annual learning modules on consent and appropriate boundaries and we have implemented confidential reporting systems and wellness and counseling programs.”

Please send information on Tamalpais Union High School District to [email protected]. 

Tamalpais Union High School District has 4,837 students enrolled across five schools.