A high school athletic director in California is suing the district he worked for, alleging wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation.
According to the Fresno Bee, a lawsuit filed by Hovig Torigian alleges the Justin Garza High School's principal and district officials failed to investigate Torgian's claims that he was “scapegoated” after he reported an unauthorized video camera in a training room used by students.
Torigian claims he was bullied into resigning after the district finally launched an investigation nine months after the incident.
According to the complain, Torigian claims an athletic trainer set up a video camera in January of 2024 in the training room after items were taken out of the room without permission. Torigian says he only became aware of the camera after the trainer showed him football that captured an assistant football coach urinating in the training room floor drain.
Torigian says he immediately reported the camera to the school principal, directed the athletic trainer to remove the camera, and told assistant football coach to stay out of the training room unless accompanied by the trainer.
The Bee reported that the district didn’t formally investigate the incident until September 2024 “only after a parent addressed the issue at a public meeting.”
Torigian was placed on administrative leave, and the the lawsuit alleges that the district carried out an investigation with inaccurate findings "intended to support a false finding of wrongdoing by Plaintiff."
“Plaintiff was scapegoated for reporting misconduct that his superiors and CUSD chose not to investigate after he timely reported it, and he was thereafter punished for his reports because they were not investigated appropriately by superiors,” according to Torigian’s complaint.
Torigian’s resignation preceded months of upheaval at the Central Unified School District, which saw the departure of its former superintendent, Ketti Davis, last year.
