NewsLocal News

Actions

Lawsuit: Nicolet School District failed to respond to sexual abuse by teacher

Posted at 9:31 AM, Mar 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-27 12:31:08-04

A lawsuit filed by a former student against a suburban Milwaukee school district claims it did nothing to stop sexual abuse by a renowned math teacher more than three decades ago.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Mark Bonchek says the Nicolet School District knowingly disregarded his calls for help. Bonchek, a Nicolet High School 1982 valedictorian, says teacher David Johnson repeatedly sexually assaulted him in the name of "research."

TODAY'S TMJ4 reported on this story March 2018, when findings from a Nicolet investigation of the teacher claimed that the allegations were "credible."

Bonchek, who went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, says he still has psychological damage from the abuse. The 81-year-old Johnson died by suicide at his retirement home in Waupaca last year, just days after the district told alumni he had molested at least two boys. Ten more former students came forward in the following weeks to say they were also assaulted.