Former student sues Francis Parker, alleging failure to report sexual abuse by teacher

A lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of a former Francis Parker School student claims administrators at the private K-12 school failed to report instances of sexual abuse by a former teacher to authorities and neglected to enforce rules that could have prevented the teacher from being alone with the student on campus.

Grace Winn, 19, alleges in her lawsuit that her former basketball coach and history teacher, Miguel Cembrano, began emotionally grooming and then sexually abusing her in 2014, when she was 13 years old and in seventh grade. The abuse continued through 2016, the suit says.

“I was a 13-year-old girl; I could not process what was happening, and the Parker administration failed me,” Winn said during a livestreamed news conference on Friday.

The lawsuit was filed in San Diego County Superior Court. The suit names Francis Parker School and three top officials. .

The lawsuit said Francis Parker fired Cembrano in 2015 and he committed suicide in 2016 while under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct at High Tech High.

According to the lawsuit, Winn was often alone in a classroom with Cembrano with the door and blinds closed, and hall monitors and campus security did nothing despite it being against school policy, the suit says.

The lawsuit says that on one occasion Cembrano linked arms with Winn while walking on campus, in plain sight of other Francis Parker teachers and administrators.

Lori Biggs, head of communications for Francis Parker, said in an email Friday that the school would not comment on pending litigation.

“At Francis Parker School we take all alleged incidents extremely seriously,” she said. “Our School’s values are founded on putting students first, and providing an environment for learning where students are safe, both physically and emotionally.”

The school officials could not be reached for comment Friday. David G. Molinari, an attorney who said he is representing them all and the school, said the school denies the allegations contained in the lawsuit.

“At this point in the process it is important to realize that is all we have, ‘allegations,’” he said in an email Friday. “We will put our faith in the judicial system and judicial process as opposed to litigating on social media or outside the legal system.”

According to the lawsuit, Cembrano began sharing facts about his personal life with Winn and encouraging her to confide in him and to spend time in his classroom doing homework.

Cembrano began occasionally touching Winn during their interactions and progressed to rubbing her inner thighs, shoulders and butt, the suit says.

According to the lawsuit, Cembrano was fired in 2015 because of inappropriate conduct with a student. Winn said school officials did not speak with her about it at the time.

The lawsuit says administrators failed to report the suspected child abuse and failed to inform students and parents. Students who had close interactions with Cembrano, such as girls on the basketball team, were not questioned by the school, according to the suit.

“Parker was aware of the rumors and general reputation of Cembrano since early in his employment at the school, yet it failed to take any action to investigate those rumors or ensure that he was not engaging in boundary invasions with his students,” the lawsuit says.

After he was fired, Cambrano obtained Winn’s phone number, the lawsuit says, and used the social media platform Snapchat to convince her to send partially naked photos and to send shirtless photos of himself to her.

When Winn was in eighth grade, Cambrano ended contact, until 2016 when he sent an apology message, the suit says.

Winn’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.

Winn said she wants the school’s administrators to take accountability and she wants the school to do better for their students.

Winn encouraged other possible victims to come forward.

Francis Parker is located in Linda Vista and has an enrollment of 1,310 students, according to its website. Tuition ranges from more then $22,000 to $36,730.