By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
A settlement could be in the offing in the federal lawsuit brought against the Claremont School District by the family of a mentally disabled woman who was assaulted by George Caccavaro, then a school employee.
Caccavaro, 79, was convicted last year on two counts of simple assault; he was originally charged with two counts of sexual assault, and sentenced to 30 days in jail for assaulting the disabled woman who was then a special education student at Stevens High School.
“My daughter could not defend herself from this monster, yet the school allowed her to be his prey—even after they had received multiple reports about the things he was doing to her,” Crystal Currier, the victim’s mother, said when the lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Concord.
Court records filed late last week by attorneys working for Stevens High School Principal Patricia Barry indicate the case is scheduled to go before a mediator on June 16. The mediation could result in the case being settled without a trial.
Caccavaro is a retired businessman who started working as the business manager for the Mascoma Regional Valley Regional School district. After he retired from Mascoma, he started working at Stevens High School in Claremont, first as a substitute teacher, and then as a paraeducator.
Caccavaro is also a former Claremont mayor, member of the city council, and member of the police commission. The victim, who was 20 at the time of the assault, is diagnosed with Smith-Lemil-Opitz Syndrome, a genetic disorder that impacts her cognitive, physical, and social development, according to Anthony Carr, the attorney for the woman’s family.
Caccavaro was told by the administration at the high school to stay away from the victim in the fall of 2018, after he was seen by other staff members kissing her, according to court records. Caccavaro used to buy the woman lunches and other gifts, according to her mother.
In February of 2019, Caccavaro took the victim and another developmentally disabled student to an off-campus volunteering opportunity at an animal shelter. It was here that Caccavaro groped the woman, grabbed her from behind, and thrust his hips into her, according to the court record. Animal shelter staff witnessed the incident and contacted the school, according to the court record.
The school fired Caccavaro and contacted police, but school officials never contacted the victim’s family, according to Currier.
Carr has said Caccavaro was disciplined by the Claremont district in 2017 and fired from being a substitute teacher, though the reason for the 2017 actions are not known. He was later rehired by the district as a paraeducator.