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According to a claim filed by attorney Robert Allard, the San Jose Mercury News reports, former O.B. Whaley teacher Craig Chandler allegedly molested kids dating back to the beginning of the 2010 school year.
Allard filed a claim with the Evergreen Elementary School District seeking compensation for the family of a ten-year-old child allegedly molested by Craig Chandler. Chandler has been charged with five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 at O.B. Whaley Elementary school. Former-Principal Lyn Vijayendran is charged with failing to report a suspicion of child abuse, even though she was a mandated reporter.
The Mercury News cites a police report stating that the parent of another alleged victim complained to Vijayendran last fall about Chandler blindfolding her child alone in his classroom and putting things in her mouth. Allard says that the ten-year-old victim he represents claims that Craig Chandler also made her engage in the same type of game, called “Helen Keller,” in which the victim was blindfolded so that Chandler could sexually abuse the child.
Allard is asking parents of children at O.B. Whaley to contact him if their child was made to play the same game. Contact attorney Robert Allard at 408-289-1417 or toll-free at 866-433-6797. You may also fill out the confidential form to the right.
Updated October 5, 2012: San Jose Mercury News reports, “the principal consulted with Evergreen School District Human Resources Director Carole Schmitt and then warned Chandler not to play what he called a ‘Helen Keller lesson’ with students alone.” The Mercury News gained access to the notes taken by the principal Lyn Vijayendran. According to the Mercury News, the notes detail how a second-grade student told her that teacher Craig Chandler put something in her mouth while she was blindfolded and alone with him in a classroom. Chandler wiggled her body and head “back and forth” and earlier asked her to “open her legs,” according to the principal’s handwritten and typed notes of the interview with the girl.
