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Families of seven children say a teacher at a prominent Jewish preschool in Washington repeatedly sexually abused their kids over the past two years. (Photo: Getty Images/VStock RF)

Eight families say a teacher at a Jewish preschool in Washington repeatedly sexually abused their children over the past two years, and they contend the school's leader and a prominent synagogue did nothing about it despite warnings.

Claims of sexual abuse against children ages 2 to 4 are outlined in a civil lawsuit filed late Monday against the Washington Hebrew Congregation, which operates the Edlavitch Tyser Early Childhood Center, and its head of schools, Deborah "DJ" Schneider Jensen.

The suit, filed in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, alleges the defendants enabled sexual abuse of children by the same man – Jordan Silverman, an assistant teacher who arrived at the preschool in 2016 after a long career as a photographer in Vermont.

Attorneys for the parents and children say the abuse, which spanned from March 2016 to August 2018 on the preschool's campus, included the "most grievous, demeaning and damaging forms of sexual abuse" and was "systemic and regular." The victims were girls and boys, they say.

The lawsuit's 23 plaintiffs – children and their parents – are pursuing several claims of negligence, arguing the school and Jensen are liable for allowing the abuse to persist. They contend that Silverman was "allowed and encouraged" to be alone with the children with no other adult present. They say that violated a Washington "two-deep" policy that requires at least two adults to be present with children at all times at licensed child development centers.

"Essential protection against abuse of this type in a child-caring environment requires visibility and accountability of all adults present at all times," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants provided for neither."

The suit, which lists seven children only as Jane and John Does and keeps the parents anonymous as well, seeks an amount of compensation to be determined by a jury for damages, both monetary and non-monetary.

Silverman, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has not been charged with any crimes and denies the allegations in the lawsuit. His lawyer, Shawn Sukumar, told CNN that Silverman contends he did nothing inappropriate.

"Mr. Silverman categorically denies engaging in any inappropriate or illegal contact with children at Washington Hebrew Congregation," Sukumar told CNN.

In August, The Washington Post reported that District of Columbia police were investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the Washington Hebrew Congregation preschool.

A statement on behalf of Washington Hebrew Congregation in response to the lawsuit said the synagogue is "carefully reviewing the complaint." The temple's leaders say they reported the sexual abuse allegations in August as soon as they learned of them and have "continually and fully cooperated" with the criminal investigation.

"Child safety has always been our top priority," the statement reads. It rejects allegations that the early childhood center violated the law or state regulations.

"Although there has not been any arrest, these allegations are very troubling; as a faith community, Washington Hebrew has supported and will continue to support its entire community as individuals grapple with how these allegations affect them and their families," the statement says.

Jensen did not respond for a request to comment.

The Washington Hebrew Congregation sent a letter to parents in August that said an employee at its early childhood center was put on administrative leave after allegations that the employee "may have engaged in inappropriate conduct involving one or more children." The school did not disclose the name of the employee at the request of police.

Plaintiffs are represented by the Sexual Abuse, Sex Trafficking and Domestic Violence group of the Washington-based law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which specializes in whistle-blower cases against corporations and antitrust, civil rights and human rights cases.

"Silverman’s alleged behavior is only a part of this story," Steve Toll, managing partner of the law firm, said in a statement. The preschool and Jensen "not only created an environment that enabled this predatory behavior but failed to act on a myriad of indications that something was wrong."

"They must be held accountable so that no child in this program ever suffers again," Toll said.

Jensen, who was hired by Washington Hebrew Congregation to lead the early childhood center in 2014, announced in February plans to leave her position after the end of the academic year. In a letter on her departure, she said it's time to pursue other initiatives in early childhood education, finish writing her second book and focus on training teachers. She did not refer to the sexual abuse investigation.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/16/washington-d-c-jewish-preschool-accused-enabling-sexual-abuse-lawsuit/3456753002/</s>Washington (CNN) The families of eight young children have filed suit against a prominent Washington, D.C., synagogue and one of its leaders, alleging they ignored warnings that a teacher at the congregation's preschool was sexually abusing the children for more than two years.

The families, who are filing the suit anonymously, to protect the children's identities, say the alleged abuse occurred at Washington Hebrew Congregation's Early Childhood Center, a Reform Jewish synagogue founded in the 1850s.

The lawsuit names Jordan Silverman, a teacher at Washington Hebrew Congregation's preschool, as the abuser. Silverman, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has not been charged with any crimes and denies the allegations in the lawsuit.

"Mr. Silverman categorically denies engaging in any inappropriate or illegal contact with children at Washington Hebrew Congregation," said his attorney, Shawn Sukumar.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia confirmed to CNN on Monday evening that an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children at the school is currently ongoing. Police wouldn't confirm or deny that Silverman is a suspect, saying they only release a suspect's name if the public's assistance is needed to locate the suspect or the suspect has been arrested.

Read More</s>Eight families whose children attended the Washington Hebrew Congregation’s Early Childhood Center are alleging in a lawsuit that their children were sexually abused by an assistant teacher for more than two years and that the preschool, through its own negligence, allowed it to happen.

Filed Monday evening, the lawsuit claims that Jordan Silverman, an assistant teacher at the preschool since early 2016, committed “the most grievous, demeaning and damaging forms of sexual abuse” against children between the ages of 2 and 4 at the preschool.

According to the suit, the abuse began in March of 2016 and ended in August 2018, when Metropolitan Police began their investigation. According to the police, that investigation is still ongoing and no arrests have been made. Silverman was dismissed from the preschool shortly after August of last year.

The lawsuit specifically targets Washington Hebrew Congregation and DJ Schneider Jensen, the temple’s head of schools since 2014, saying that she dismissed specific and repeated warnings about Silverman’s behavior, at one point calling them the product of a witness’s own “sick mind.”

The families, being represented Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, are not seeking a specific monetary sum. According to attorney Michael Dolce, damages will be determined by a jury. Dolce said that the families believe there are more victims than the eight children listed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the preschool of violating District of Columbia law by allowing Silverman to be alone with children.

In a statement, Washington Hebrew Congregation said it acted as soon as it learned of allegations of abuse.

“On August 16, 2018, as soon as we learned of these allegations, Washington Hebrew Congregation reported the allegations of sex abuse to DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Child Protective Services,” the statement reads. “Since that moment and for the past eight months we have continually and fully cooperated with the ongoing criminal investigation. We have kept the community regularly apprised of what we know. … Child safety has always been our top priority. Contrary to allegations in the Complaint, our early childhood centers have not violated the law.”

Jared Foretek is a reporter at Washington Jewish Week, a sister publication of the Baltimore Jewish Times.</s>A group of parents is suing the preschool at Washington Hebrew Congregation, alleging that the school ignored warning signs while a teacher sexually abused at least seven toddlers for more than a year.

The allegations are laid out against the preschool in a 239-page lawsuit filed late Monday afternoon in D.C. Superior Court.

According to the lawsuit, a teacher at the school took 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls to remote areas on campus and sexually abused them.

The teacher has not been criminally charged and is not a defendant in the lawsuit. Because of that, The Washington Post is not naming him.

The families who filed the lawsuit are not identified in the document and, according to the attorney for the parents, decided to remain anonymous to protect their children’s privacy.

The temple and its director of early-childhood education, Deborah “DJ” Schneider Jensen, are the focus of the civil lawsuit, which outlines instances when the parents allege Jensen ignored signs that abuse may have been occurring on campus.

A spokeswoman for Washington Hebrew, Amy Rotenberg, confirmed that Jensen received requests for comment from the Washington Post.

She said the temple is still reviewing the lawsuit.

“In August 2018, Washington Hebrew Congregation immediately reported the allegations to DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) and Child Protective Services as soon as we learned of them,” Rotenberg said in an email. “Since that moment and for the past eight months we have continually and fully cooperated with the ongoing criminal investigation.

“We have taken this matter seriously and have kept the community regularly apprised of what we know,” Rotenberg wrote in an emailed statement to the Post.

“Although there has not been any arrest that we are aware of, and the allegations of abuse have not been proved, we recognize that these allegations are very troubling; as a faith community, Washington Hebrew has repeatedly offered to support its entire community as individuals grapple with how these allegations affect them and their families.”

The lawsuit states that the preschool teacher was allowed to be alone with students despite city regulations requiring at least two adults to be present with toddlers in licensed child development centers. The school also did not properly train staff on ways to reduce the potential for child sexual abuse and to recognize signs that it may have happened, the lawsuit alleges.

The teacher identified in the lawsuit no longer works at the preschool in Northwest Washington. He was hired in March 2016, according to the lawsuit.

Within a month of the man beginning work at Washington Hebrew, teachers and parents reported to Jensen incidents of inappropriate behavior, according to the lawsuit. The alleged behavior included being late returning students when he was alone with them and not responding to co-workers who were looking for him while he was with students.

The lawsuit states that when an adult reported potential abuse to Jensen, the director said that the person reporting the potential abuse had a “sick mind” and that the teacher would never abuse children. Jensen did not investigate the incidents further, did not restrict the teacher’s access to children and did not report the allegations to city officials, according to the lawsuit.

“We are prepared to prove in this litigation that multiple adults — teachers and parents — went to the director of the school, Ms. Jensen, and either warned her specifically about behaviors they saw that were troubling or raised the concern about him taking children into rooms alone,” said Michael Dolce, an attorney at the law firm Cohen Milstein, which is representing the seven families who filed the lawsuit.

An attorney for the teacher identified in the lawsuit denied the allegations of sexual abuse.

D.C. police launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the preschool in August. A spokesman for the department said Monday that the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. A police report on the alleged incidents states that someone reported the allegations through a D.C. Child and Family Services Agency hotline.

The police report says the alleged abuse happened between September 2017 and August 2018, although the lawsuit states that the teacher’s inappropriate behavior began before then.

Dolce, who specializes in sex-crime cases, said investigations involving victims who are toddlers can take longer than other cases because the victims are so young and may struggle to communicate what occurred.

The lawsuit alleges that students displayed abnormal behavior that preschool employees with proper training should have recognized as signs of abuse. The families are suing for an unspecified amount of money, claiming the school’s negligence has led to a potential lifetime of emotional distress, medical costs and therapy for the children. The lawsuit states that the alleged abuse may limit the children’s earning potential in the future.

The lawsuit does not describe in detail the nature of the alleged sexual assaults, although Dolce said the allegations represent significant sex crimes.

The seven families who filed the lawsuit have all removed their children from the school, Dolce said.

“All of these children have received mental health care already,” Dolce said. “To varying degrees, these children are suffering horribly, exhibiting substantial dysfunction . . . The sets of problems do not just go away by removing the child from the environment or removing the predator.”

In August, the temple’s rabbi, president and head of schools sent a letter to families informing them of the investigation.

“These allegations and the necessary investigations are painful for everyone, but as a sacred community and congregation we seek to provide support to all as we face these challenges,” the letter said. “We seek both justice and compassion as our tradition demands.”

Like PostLocal on Facebook | Follow @postlocal on Twitter | Latest local news</s>Eight families whose children attended the Washington Hebrew Congregation’s Early Childhood Center are alleging in a lawsuit that their children were sexually abused by an assistant teacher for more than two years and that the preschool, through its own negligence, allowed it to happen.

Filed Monday evening, the lawsuit claims that Jordan Silverman, an assistant teacher at the preschool since early 2016, committed “the most grievous, demeaning and damaging forms of sexual abuse” against children between the ages of 2 and 4 at the preschool. According to the suit, the abuse began in in the spring of 2016 and ended in August of 2018, when a child reported abuse to their parents and Metropolitan Police began their investigation. According to the police, that investigation is still ongoing and no arrests have been made. Silverman was dismissed from the preschool shortly after August of last year.

The lawsuit specifically targets Washington Hebrew Congregation and DJ Schneider Jensen, the temple’s head of schools since 2014, saying that she dismissed specific and repeated warnings about Silverman’s behavior, at one point calling them the product of a witness’ own “sick mind.” The families, being represented Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, are not seeking a specific monetary sum. According to attorney Michael Dolce, damages will be determined by a jury. Dolce said that the families believe there are more victims than the eight children listed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the preschool of violating District of Columbia law by allowing Silverman to be alone with children. In a statement, Washington Hebrew Congregation said it acted as soon as it learned of allegations of abuse.

“On August 16, 2018, as soon as we learned of these allegations, Washington Hebrew Congregation reported the allegations of sex abuse to DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Child Protective Services,” the Washington Hebrew Congregation statement reads. “Since that moment and for the past eight months we have continually and fully cooperated with the ongoing criminal investigation. We have kept the community regularly apprised of what we know. … Child safety has always been our top priority. Contrary to allegations in the Complaint, our early childhood centers have not violated the law.”

Amy Rotenberg, a publicist, said the synagogue will not comment beyond the prepared statement.

The lawsuit alleges that Jensen recruited and hired Silverman despite him having no professional education experience. According to Silverman’s Linkedin page, he has volunteered with the Bethesda Elementary School parent-teacher association since 2013 as a “playground monitor, room parent, photographer, etc.” Dolce said he had not been in contact with Bethesda Elementary or Montgomery County Public Schools. No one from the Montgomery County Public Schools was available for comment at press time.

When reached via phone, Siva Anatham, the president of the Bethesda Elementary PTA, said he had not heard of the allegations against Silverman and that, to his knowledge, the school had not been informed of any investigations. Montgomery County Police said it was unable to confirm the existence of any investigations in Maryland.

“This is troubling,” Anatham said when told of the allegations in the lawsuit.

According to Anatham, a member of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue in Bethesda, Silverman joined the PTA when he moved to the area and one of his children began attending Bethesda Elementary in 2016. Divorced, he was looking to make new friends and volunteered his services as a photographer and handling logistics for certain school events. Anatham said he thought it would be difficult for any adult to have spent time alone with children at Bethesda Elementary.

“Bethesda has a number of controls,” Anatham said.

Silverman’s personal website describes him as a professional photographer who shoots “event, family and product photography.” It says he came to Washington after more than 16 years in Vermont. According to Dolce, fellow teachers began raising concerns about Silverman spending time alone with children shortly after he began working at the Early Childhood Center.

According to Dolce, witnesses saw him being unusually physical with children and “breaching physical touch barriers.” Still, the lawsuit says he was “encouraged” by others at the school to take children (either individually or in groups) to separate smaller rooms, out of sight from other adults. Sometimes, Dolce said, he would be late returning the children to the classroom and non-responsive to his walkie-talkie.

When some adults would raise concerns to Jensen, she was dismissive, according to Dolce.

“The response was, ‘You have a sick mind. He would not hurt a child, I know him,’” Dolce said, paraphrasing Jensen.

The lawsuit says Silverman “targeted specific victims, to reduce the chance of detection” and alleges that Jensen at no point asked Silverman to stop engaging in the behavior that was concerning to others and did not investigate the concerns any further.

Jensen did not respond to a voice mail left at her office number seeking comment. The lawsuit alleges that at Washington Hebrew Congregation, Silverman found a school environment that was “friendly to would-be child sex predators.” The complaint alleges that Silverman could easily create opportunities to be alone with children and that some employees who witnessed “red flags” had not been trained adequately to identify warning signs of sexual abuse.

The police investigation has been ongoing since August, but Dolce said the families decided to file their lawsuit now in part because they wanted the extent of Silverman’s alleged abuse to be public so that other victims may come forward. They also wanted to send a message to other institutions caring for young children.

“These families are definitely suffering,” Dolce said. “They’re incurring a lot of expenses to care for their children … and they’re hoping that this case will cause other institutions that take children under their care to learn from it.”</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — A Hebrew preschool in the nation's capital is accused of ignoring signs that one of its teachers was sexually abusing children.

The Washington Post reports several parents filed a lawsuit against the Washington Hebrew Congregation school on Monday. The lawsuit says the teacher took at least seven 3- and 4-year-old children to remote areas on campus and sexually abused them.

It says the abuse happened for more than a year, though complaints of inappropriate behavior were brought to school officials soon after his hiring in March 2016.

Spokeswoman Amy Rotenberg says the school learned of the allegations in August and reported them to District police. Police say an investigation is ongoing.

The teacher isn't a defendant in the lawsuit, hasn't been criminally charged and no longer works at the school.</s>NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Brooklyn teacher is accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl.

Daniel Santiago, 29, was arrested Monday at P.S. 244 in Brooklyn.

Police said he inappropriately touched the female student and sent her sexually explicit photos of himself.

He was removed from his classroom last week after the allegations surfaced.</s>The families of eight young children have filed suit against a prominent Washington, D.C., synagogue and one of its leaders, alleging they ignored warnings that a teacher at the congregation’s preschool was sexually abusing the children for more than two years.

The families, who are filing the suit anonymously, to protect the children’s identities, say the alleged abuse occurred at Washington Hebrew Congregation’s Early Childhood Center, a Reform Jewish synagogue founded in the 1850s.

The lawsuit names Jordan Silverman, a teacher at Washington Hebrew Congregation’s preschool, as the abuser. Silverman, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, could not be immediately reached for comment.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia confirmed to CNN on Monday evening that an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children at the school is currently ongoing. Police wouldn’t confirm or deny that Silverman is a suspect, saying they only release a suspect’s name if the public’s assistance is needed to locate the suspect or the suspect has been arrested.

“There are no updates at this time,” said spokesman Sean Hickman.

In a statement, Washington Hebrew Congregation said it learned the lawsuit had been filed on Monday evening and is “carefully reviewing the complaint.”

“On August 16, 2018, as soon as we learned of these allegations, Washington Hebrew Congregation reported the allegations of sex abuse to DC Metropolitan Police Department and Child Protective Services,” the congregation’s statement continued.

“Since that moment and for the past eight months we have continually and fully cooperated with the ongoing criminal investigation. We have kept the community regularly apprised of what we know.”

“Contrary to allegations in the complaint, our early childhood centers have not violated the law,” the congregation’s statement said. “We have not been found to be in violation of state regulations as alleged in the complaint based on at least three inspections since the allegations first arose in August 2018.”

The lawsuit accuses the school’s head of early childhood education, Deborah Jensen, of failing to “protect children from a known and avoidable risk of sexual abuse,” according to a statement from the families’ lawyers.

Jensen could not immediately be reached for comment. She joined Washington Hebrew Congregation in 2014 as its early childhood director, according to the congregation’s website.

According to a police report, on August 17, 2018, a hotline for the district’s Child and Family Services agencies received “an allegation of sexual abuse of a child.” The hotline reporter claimed the alleged abuse began in September of 2017 and continued until August 15, 2018, two days before the police investigation started.

The 74-count civil complaint was filed late Monday in Superior Court for the District of Columbia and alleges that “systemic, regular sexual abuse of such young children and in large numbers in an educational environment does not occur in the absence of neglect by the school administrators.”

The alleged victims were between the ages of 2 and 4 years old and included both girls and boys, according to the statement.

“The abuse included the most grievous, demeaning and damaging forms of sexual abuse,” the statement read.

While the Catholic Church and other religious communities have dealt in recent years with widespread, though often decades-old accusations of child abuse, accusations at Jewish institutions have remained rare.

In its statement, Washington Hebrew Congregation said “child safety has always been our top priority.”

“Although there has not been any arrest, these allegations are very troubling; as a faith community, Washington Hebrew has supported and will continue to support its entire community as individuals grapple with how these allegations affect them and their families.”</s>The families of eight children between the ages of three and four have accused a Jewish preschool in Washington, D.C., of sexual abuse against the children over a two-year period.

A 74-count lawsuit filed in Superior Court for the District of Columbia accuses Washington Hebrew Congregation, including the head of the school, of allowing a teacher, Jordan Silverman, to sexually abuse the children in their care. It also claims that despite numerous warning signs over a prolonged period, the congregation’s Edlavitch Tyser Early Childhood Center and its head of schools for early-childhood education, Deborah Jensen, failed to protect the children, who were taken to remote areas on campus and sexually abused.

Jensen was hired by the Washington Hebrew Congregation in the summer of 2014, and recruited and brought Silverman on board in March 2016, despite a lack of professional experience in teaching or child care, according to a statement by the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which is representing the victims.

The families in the lawsuit have not been named, as they decided to remain anonymous to safeguard their children’s privacy, an attorney for the parents told The Washington Post.

The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia told CNN that an investigation is ongoing. No suspects or arrests have been announced.

A spokesperson for Washington Hebrew Congregation, Amy Rotenberg, told the Post that the synagogue is reviewing the complaint.

“In August 2018, Washington Hebrew Congregation immediately reported the allegations to DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) and Child Protective Services as soon as we learned of them,” she told the publication in an email. “Since that moment and for the past eight months, we have continually and fully cooperated with the ongoing criminal investigation. We have taken this matter seriously and have kept the community regularly apprised of what we know.”

“Although there has not been any arrest that we are aware of, and the allegations of abuse have not been proved, we recognize that these allegations are very troubling; as a faith community, Washington Hebrew has repeatedly offered to support its entire community as individuals grapple with how these allegations affect them and their families,” stated Rotenberg.

“Silverman’s alleged behavior is only a part of this story,” said Steven Toll, a managing partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. “Sadly, the Early Childhood Center and [Jensen] not only created an environment that enabled this predatory behavior, but failed to act on a myriad of indications that something was wrong.”

An attorney for Silverman denied the allegations.

Silverman was placed on administrative leave in August 2018 following a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse; similar allegations quickly followed. He is no longer at the school.

At the moment, Jensen remains in her current role, although she has announced her intention to leave at the end of the current academic year.

“We are prepared to prove in this litigation that multiple adults—teachers and parents—went to the director of the school, Ms. Jensen, and either warned her specifically about behaviors they saw that were troubling or raised the concern about him taking children into rooms alone,” said Michael Dolce of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.</s>Eight families say a teacher at a Jewish preschool in Washington, D.C., repeatedly sexually abused their children over the past two years – and they contend the school's top leader and a prominent synagogue did nothing about it despite warnings.

Disturbing claims of sexual abuse against children, ages three and four at the time, are outlined in a new civil lawsuit filed late Monday in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia against the Washington Hebrew Congregation, which operates the Edlavitch Tyser Early Childhood Center, and its head of schools, Deborah "DJ" Schneider Jensen.

It alleges the defendants enabled sexual abuse of children from the same man – Jordan Silverman, an assistant teacher who arrived at the preschool in 2016 after a long career as a photographer in Vermont.

Attorneys for the parents and children say the abuse, which spanned from March 2016 to August 2018 on the preschool's campus, included the "most grievous, demeaning and damaging forms of sexual abuse," and was "systemic and regular." Both girls and boys were victims, they say.

The lawsuit's 23 plaintiffs, which includes children and their parents, make several claims of negligence, arguing the school and Jensen are liable for allowing the abuse to persist. They contend that Silverman was "allowed and encouraged" to be alone with the children with no other adult present. Doing so, they argue, violated a Washington, D.C., "two-deep" policy that requires at least two adults at all times to be present with children at licensed child development centers.

"Essential protection against abuse of this type in a child-caring environment requires visibility and accountability of all adults present at all times," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants provided for neither."

The suit, which lists seven children only as Jane and John Does and keeps the parents anonymous as well, seeks an amount of compensation to be determined by a jury for damages, both monetary and non-monetary.

Seven Jacober, executive director of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Neither Jensen nor Silverman could immediately be reached for comment from USA TODAY.

In August, the Washington Post reported that D.C. police were investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the Washington Hebrew Congregation preschool.

That same month, the Washington Hebrew Congregation sent a letter to parents that said an employee at its early childhood center was put on administrative leave following allegations that the employee "may have engaged in inappropriate conduct involving one or more children." But the school did not disclose the name of the employee at the request of police.

Plaintiffs are represented by the Sexual Abuse, Sex Trafficking and Domestic Violence group of the D.C.-based law firm Cohen Milstein, Sellers & Toll, which specializes in whistle-blower cases against corporations, antitrust, civil rights and human rights cases.

"Silverman’s alleged behavior is only a part of this story," Steve Toll, managing partner of the law firm, said in a statement, adding that the preschool and Jensen "not only created an environment that enabled this predatory behavior but failed to act on a myriad of indications that something was wrong.

"They must be held accountable so that no child in this program ever suffers again," Toll said.

Michael Dolce, another plaintiff's attorney, urged anyone with concerns that the accused teacher may have abused other children in Washington or Vermont, to contact law enforcement. “Law-enforcement research indicates that many child sex abusers have multiple victims over time," he said.

Jensen, who was hired by Washington Hebrew Congregation to lead the early childhood center in 2014, announced in February plans to leave her position of head of school after the end of the academic year. In a letter on her departure, she said now is the time to pursue other initiatives in early childhood education, finish writing her second book and focus on training teacher. She did not reference the sexual abuse investigation.

The suit says Silverman used "specific tactics against his victims, and targeted specific victims, to reduce the chance of detection."

Plaintiffs say that Jensen "ignored, rejected and purposefully silenced repeated warnings and expressions of concern, from parents and teachers alike" that started just one month into Silverman's tenure at the school. The suit also says that Silverman was hired despite "no professional training, credentials or experience in early childhood education."

The suit says parents and teachers early on observed "grooming" behavior from Silverman to children, which it called a prelude to the abuse that followed. Others observed him taking children to areas of the school alone, the suit says, but Jensen did not open an investigation despite the concerns. The lawsuit also alleges there were other complaints that Silverman was sometimes late returning after being alone with students.

Plaintiffs argue Jensen refused to direct or order Silverman to cease engaging in such conduct; took no action to investigate the concerns; did not restrict Silverman’s access to children; made no changes in policies and procedures; failed to report the misconduct to law enforcement, child welfare authority or the school’s licensing authority; and failed to terminate Silverman.

Among the damages, the lawsuit cites the costs of medical, psychological and psychiatric evaluation and care and medications; vocational, rehabilitative, occupational and physical therapies; and the loss of earning capacity and future lost earnings.

The suit also cites the cost of transporting the children to health care facilities; educational expenses; the cost of therapy; mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional distress; pain and suffering; the loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life; bodily injury; pre-judgment interest; post-judgment interest; and other loses.
Eight families file a lawsuit against Washington Hebrew Congregation for allowing what they say was a lack of action over an assistant teacher who stands accused of sexually abusing several children in the day care program.