A former high school photography teacher who kept her job despite being caught with child porn and inappropriate contact with a student will finally face justice, and a civil lawsuit.

Police arrested Kyle Ann Wood, a 54-year-old photography teacher in the Acalanes Union High School District, on felony charges in January for sexually abusing two female students in the late 1990s. A recent lawsuit filed by Wood’s victim reveals that school officials enabled the repeat offender to continue to prey on students and evade criminal charges for decades.

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The Mercury News reports:

The criminal charges against Wood allege that she abused the students between 1996-98. In 1995, the suit alleges that Wood – a photography teacher – was caught with ‘sexually explicit’ photographs of a female student in a class darkroom, but no disciplinary action was taken against her.

The following year, the suit alleges, wood began ‘grooming’ a 14-year-old student, offering the girl alcohol and sexually abusing her at the girl’s home. The district opened an investigation into Wood after she was seen ‘aggressively’ chasing the student around a playground, and the school’s principal promised the girl’s parents that Wood would be fired. But instead, she was placed on one-year leave and returned.

The lawsuit alleges that’s when the plaintiff met Wood, who “encouraged Plaintiff to confide in her and trust her,” according to the lawsuit.

“Plaintiff welcomed this ‘friendship,’ as Plaintiff believed she had few people in her life in whom she could confide – a belief Wood was aware of and exploited.”

The lawsuit contends the teacher convinced the student the two were in love, then sexually abused the teen “hundreds of times.”

“On a subsequent occasion, while Plaintiff was again at Wood’s apartment, Wood invited Plaintiff on a walk,” according to the suit. “During this walk, Wood confessed that she believed that her and Plaintiff were fated to meet and to be together.”

The victim kept the abuse a secret for decades.

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“That changed in 2016, when by chance the plaintiff decided to online-search Wood’s other alleged victim, who she know about from conversations with Wood,” the News reports. “To the plaintiff’s dismay, she came across the obituary for the other alleged victim, who died in her mid-30s in 2014.”

When visiting the grave of the other victim, the former student ran into the deceased woman’s parents, and they got to talking.

“The prior victim’s parents were stunned. They proceeded to inform Plaintiff that the administrators at the School had promised them that Wood would be fired and never be allowed to return to Acalanes after her inappropriate interactions with their daughter,” the lawsuit read.

“Ultimately, the parents of the prior victim encouraged Plaintiff to speak out and reveal the truth what happened to both her and their daughter.”

The Acalanes school district confirmed Wood worked as a photography teacher since 1994, most recently as a teacher at Miramonte High School, until her arrest on Jan. 8, when she was placed on administrative leave. She pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently out on a $150,000 bail.

Recent changes to California laws, prompted by the #MeToo movement, will factor into the case.

The Lamorinda Weekly reports:

Though no one from the sheriff’s office or DA’s office would comment on the motivation or timing of the allegations, it should be noted that Assembly Bill 218, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Oct. 13, gives those who experienced childhood sexual abuse until age 40, or five years from discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. Survivors also have a three-year period starting this January in which sexual abuse claims that have since passed the statute of limitations can be pursued.