Edison School District Settles Ex-Student's Sex Abuse Lawsuit For $3M

EDISON, NJ – The Edison School District recently paid $3 million in settlement to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused by a teacher in high school during the 1980s.

The settlement came just before the trial in the Middlesex County Courthouse on Oct. 28, according to the man's attorneys J. Silvio Mascolo and Vincent Nappo.

The settlement resolves just one of nine lawsuits against the school district alleging sexual abuse by former teacher Fredrick Burkley.

According to the attorneys, nine teenage boys were sexually abused by Burkley who was a woodshop teacher at Edison High School from 1979 through 1985.

In 1986 Burkley was arrested and he pleaded guilty to the charges. He was indicted following an investigation and resigned from his post soon after.

The remaining eight cases remain pending in Middlesex County Superior Court.

According to the lawsuit filed by the man, Burkley used his position as a teacher to sexually abuse him multiple times. The lawsuit claims that the man was abused by Burkley when he was 13 to 15 years old.

Filed in 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Edison Board of Education was negligent for not providing proper supervision of Burkley and failing to implement policies and procedures that would have prevented the abuse at school.

“The Defendants, through their respective agents, servants, and employees, concealed the sexual abuse of children by Frederick Burkley in order to conceal their own bad acts in failing to protect children from him, to protect their reputation, and to prevent victims of such sexual abuse from coming forward during the extremely limited statute of limitations prior to the enactment of the recent amendment that allows Plaintiff to pursue his claim now, despite knowing that Frederick Burkley would continue to molest children,” the lawsuit said.

The suit alleges that Burkley used his position as a teacher to groom and sexually abuse the plaintiff.

The lawsuit says that the man suffered physical and psychological injuries, severe emotional and psychological distress, humiliation, fright, dissociation, anger, depression, anxiety, family turmoil, a severe shock to his nervous system, physical pain and mental anguish, and emotional and psychological damage.

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