The lead plaintiff, Rachel Phillips, said the settlement is bittersweet. She’s glad to see a conclusion to the litigation but said more change is still necessary to keep predatory teachers out of schools.
“I’m glad it is going to be over. But there’s still a lot sort of hanging out there in the ether,” Phillips said in an interview with KQED on Wednesday. “It lands back in the hands of the students, the faculty and the community, the whole Berkeley community. We have to do better to hold these people accountable in making changes.”
In the suit, Phillips alleges Bissell abused her while she was a student at Berkeley High between the fall of 1999 and the spring of 2003. She alleges Bissell kissed her, put his tongue in her ear, pulled her thong underwear, and used his position of trust to exploit her physically and emotionally.
The suit describes how, in Berkeley High School’s 2003 yearbook, a picture shows Bissell hugging her from behind with his arms wrapped around her neck and chest with his face buried in her hair.
The alleged misconduct took place on campus, including hallways near the locker rooms, the suit says. Phillips said school had been her safe space until Bissell took away that security.
“A settlement doesn’t mean that I can go and still fulfill my dream of being a neurosurgeon. Matt Bissell took chemistry from me,” Phillips said. “So I still have that emptiness that I carry. And it doesn’t feel over.”
Students had reported misconduct by Bissell to administrators repeatedly, the complaint says, but Bissell was not forced to resign until 2021. Berkeleyside reported the district agreed not to disclose the alleged misconduct with any potential employers conducting reference checks.
“This settlement is a clear message: school districts will be held accountable when they fail to act and allow harm to continue under their watch,” said lead attorney Elana Jacobs in a written statement.
Berkeley Unified did not respond to a request for comment.
Another plaintiff, who asked to be referred to as Jane MK Doe to protect her privacy, said she was relieved and surprised to learn of the settlement and the amount. She said she was in Bissell’s chemistry class in 2003, and that same year she and her mom went to the principal and reported Bissell for his behavior.
“And basically nothing was done. In fact, after I reported him, he ended up avoiding me and failing me out of his class,” the plaintiff said. “I almost felt like I was going to be punished again somehow.”
She said the settlement helps close a chapter in her life and validate what she went through in high school.
“I feel satisfied. My mom passed away a couple of years ago, but I think she would be satisfied as well,” the plaintiff said.
She still worries about current and future students. While she does not have faith in the Berkeley Unified administration, she has faith in the district’s students to stand up for young women.
Genevieve Mage, a former teacher and yearbook advisor at Berkeley High, is still processing the news of the settlement. Mage saw the disturbing yearbook photo of Bissell in 2020 and helped bring the allegations to light.
“It’s a little bit of happiness. It’s been so many years and so much breaking through really awful memories and pain,” said Mage, who is currently ombudsperson at Oakland School for the Arts. “I just hope they get to be done, and the money they get from the settlement gets to drastically shift their lives and enables them to just walk away.”
