Santa Barbara Charter School Avoids Closure Following Near-Lapse in Insurance Coverage Due to Disgraced Teacher

Santa Barbara Charter School barely avoided closing its doors last week in the latest fallout from the charges against disgraced former teacher Steven Schapansky, who is accused of secretly videotaping students for seven years.

The 54-year-old ex-teacher recorded at least 46 children changing clothes by using hidden cameras in multiple locations, including the charter school’s campus, according to court documents. Last month, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office charged him with two counts of child molestation and 70 counts of electronic peeping. 

“Following the unfortunate occurrence involving former teacher Steven Schapansky, our school’s general liability insurance carrier has refused to renew our insurance,” the school said in a message to families on Monday, October 7. “As a result, this has forced us to go to an already tight market to secure insurance for the school.”

Without insurance, the school would have been forced to close for at least a few days, if not indefinitely.

However, families breathed a sigh of relief when the school was able to secure insurance with CharterSafe — the state’s only charter school joint powers insurance agency — on October 8, the day before its insurance was set to expire. 

“We are open and operating as usual,” the school’s director of education Laura Donner said on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, Schapansky is still on the run after skipping town and failing to appear in court for his September 13 arraignment. However, the blue Honda Monkey motorcycle he was last seen riding was recently located by Madera County Sheriff’s deputies, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick. 

The Independent contacted the Madera County Sheriff’s Office to determine exactly where and when the motorcycle was found, but it was unable to provide those details. Instead, the office responded, “We conducted a [Search and Rescue] operation in the area but were unable to locate any sign of the wanted individual. No further information is available at this time, and the missing person case remains with Fresno County.”

Fresno County Sheriff’s spokesperson Tony Botti said there have not been any new developments in the case. “We received some reports in mid-September of possible sightings, but none of them ever turned out to be valid,” he said in an email. “Maybe I will have to put out the flier again for the public to keep looking?”

Schapansky’s unknown whereabouts, and his avoidance of justice, have been a bane for affected families. Enveloped by uncertainty and frustration, parents are speculating where Schapansky might be. Some assume he took his own life, while others say he has the survival skills to live out in the mountains. Yosemite National Park, where authorities believe he was headed, neighbors Madera County, where his motorcycle was found abandoned. 

To add salt to their wounds, parents are also facing the daunting decision of whether or not to inform their children that they were a victim of Schapansky’s illicit recordings.

Multiple parents have turned to lawsuits against the charter school, the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD), and even the County Superintendent for retribution. The district has repeatedly stated that the charter school, under state law, “operates independently” from the district, with its own board of directors and staff, “which is responsible for the operation of the school, and agrees to defend and indemnify SBUSD for anything that may occur.”

Noting that sheriff’s investigators are still reviewing “years of tapes,” the latest lawsuit from two sets of parents says that families “do not know whether the secret recordings were disseminated … by Schapansky to third parties or posted on online websites.”

School administrators “cannot be trusted to provide basic care for, and freedom from, predators on their premises, including their own staff,” the suit says. 

However, many parents have also defended the small school, which was established in 1993 and has since been revered as a popular, nontraditional alternative to other public schools. It has often relied on a lottery system for enrollment when applications outpace spaces available, but it remains to be seen if that will continue in the aftermath of Schapansky’s actions.

One parent wrote on social media, “My child was in the class recorded. I’m not taking any of this POS’s actions out on the school. We loved that school long before he arrived and will continue to love it now that he’s long gone. My presumption is that he has already committed su-ic-ide [sic] to escape his shame and embarrassment and punishment.” 

The Independent reached out to the school district to determine whether they’ve received any requests for transfers out of the charter school and into other schools in the district, but its staff are out of the office on a Board Holiday until October 20.

Both the school and the county have vowed to support victims and families through this difficult time, including referrals to community resources. Victims are encouraged to reach out to the District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program at (805) 568-2400 or toll-free at (855) 840-3232.