Dylan Brogan
Nine former students of Madison East teacher David Kruchten filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court Friday alleging that Kruchten and the Madison school district violated the students’ Fourth Amendment and 14th Amendment rights by subjecting them to “repeated surreptitious monitoring and recording of their unclothed bodies on multiple occasions spanning many years.”
Kruchten was arrested in January 2020 on federal crimes about a month after a group of East students discovered concealed cameras in their hotel bathrooms while attending an event in Minnesota for DECA, a nationwide youth entrepreneur club. Kruchten, who was the advisor for the East DECA chapter, was recently sentenced to 12 years of prison time, followed by 20 years of extended supervision.
This new civil action is seeking to hold the school district, as well Kruchten, accountable for the educator’s actions during the DECA trips. The complaint alleges that Kruchten “used his discretion to supervise some of the students he was chaperoning on extended DECA trips, in part, by installing surreptitious surveillance cameras.”
Attorney Andrea Farrell writes in the complaint that this violated the students’ right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment. She also alleges that the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause was violated because Kruchten “targeted” female students.
District spokesperson Tim LeMonds says "we are unable to comment on pending litigation."
The lawsuit ties Kruchten’s use of hidden cameras with the district’s own use of concealed surveillance equipment. The district, in violation of its own policy, installed hidden cameras at East High School in 2019 in an attempt to catch an employee sleeping on the job. These cameras were installed in the boys' locker room and a space where children undress.
“[The] Madison School District had an actual pattern and practice of using hidden surveillance cameras as a method of supervision,” states the complaint. “[The district] facilitated Defendant Kruchten’s surreptitious surveillance of these Plaintiffs, and further refused to terminate him and acted to cover up and otherwise ratify his conduct.”
The lawsuit calls the district’s internal investigation into Kruchten’s actions during the DECA trip to Minnesota — which was conducted by a private attorney — “a sham.”
“[The district’s investigation] specifically excluded parents of victims and the victims themselves who wanted to be interviewed and share their information,” states the complaint. “The district was intentionally turning a blind eye for fear of what they might see.”
District officials repeatedly refused to release the full report of their investigation, citing attorney-client privilege. But in August, the district accidentally released the report to Isthmus. It found “there was no sexual abuse or exploitation warranting” district employees to follow mandatory reporting laws and the district’s field trip policy was not violated.
“The Madison School District spent…several months attempting to cover up its wrongdoing, and stonewalling the injured families,” states the lawsuit.
A parent of one of the East students who filed the civil lawsuit says the district gave victims and their families no other recourse to “make sure something like this never happens again.
“The district wouldn’t answer our emails, wouldn’t return our calls, wouldn’t engage in any dialogue whatsoever,” says the parent. “What else were we supposed to do?”
