A former student is suing the East Greenbush Central School District in upstate New York over claims he was sexually abused by a teacher there 40 years ago.

The plaintiff filed the lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court under the umbrella of the state’s child victims act, which gave victims of past sex abuse a new opportunity to take their abusers to court. In addition to the school district, the plaintiff named the district’s school board and Columbia High School as defendants and alleged the three entities worked together to cover up the abuse.

Plaintiff Tells of Past Sex Abuse

At the center of the complaint is former Columbia High social studies teacher Henry Kolakoski, who the plaintiff claims sexually abused him in school and at home in 1979 and 1980. Kolakoski left the district and surrendered his teaching license in 2007 while under investigation by the State Education Department for the alleged sexual abuse of the plaintiff and others, the Albany Times Union reported.

The plaintiff reported the past sex abuse to police in 2003, when repressed memories of the events came back to him. That happened at around the same time his own children were students at Columbia High, and he realized Kolakoski was still teaching, the Times Union reported. The police said there was little they could do because the statute of limitations had expired.

Later that year, East Greenbush Central’s superintendent issued Kolakoski an official reprimand, according to the Times Union. It said state police and school district investigators found there was “credible basis for the conclusion Kolakoski provided alcohol to students and had engaged in inappropriate physical contact with students which could be deemed in violation of School District policy and State Law.”

Still, Kolakoski continued teaching for nearly four more years.

The plaintiff says he was abused by his teacher in classrooms and school hallways, at school sponsored functions and at the teacher’s home when the former student was a freshman. He also claims in his lawsuit that Kolakoski was a “known sexual abuser of children” even before the plaintiff was molested.

School staff are meant to protect students, but allegations say East Greenbush Central School District, its school board and Columbia High School “acted in concert with each other (and) concealed the sexual abuse of children by Kolakoski,” the lawsuit says, “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 by him from coming forward, despite knowing that Kolakoski would continue to molest children.”

Child Victims Act Clears Path for Abuse Lawsuits

The plaintiff was only able to file the civil lawsuit against East Greenbush now because of a relatively new law in New York.

The Child Victims Act became law in New York in 2019. It extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to bring civil lawsuits against their attackers until the victim turns 55 years old. Previously, victims only had up to five years after turning 18 to file a lawsuit.

The act also created a one year “look back” period for victims who suffered abuse at any time in the past, giving them one year from the date the new law took effect to file a civil complaint. The deadline was to be August 14, but in May, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a five-month extension due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The state legislature took it a step further and weeks later voted to grant a one-year extension of the deadline, to August 14, 2021.

The East Greenbush Central School District Past Sex Abuse Lawsuit is Case No. EF2020-266807 in the New York State Supreme Court, Rensselaer County.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.