A former Portland Public School educator, who cleared his name of child abuse allegations this year, has indicated he plans to sue the district for lost wages and ruining his reputation, according to a tort claim.

Brett Christy-Hamilton on March 1 was found not guilty of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in a Multnomah County Circuit Courtroom. The outcome ended a two-year criminal case that started after a parent, the district and authorities accused the former paraeducator of inappropriately touching a 7-year-old girl while she was using the bathroom.

Stephen Houze, Christy-Hamilton's attorney, declined to comment beyond what's in the tort claim sent to the district on May 2. Dave Northfield, a district spokesman, confirmed the district received the letter and declined to comment.

Christy-Hamilton claims the school district failed to develop policies and procedures for taking disabled students to the bathroom, according to the tort claim. District leaders failed to obtain informed consent from parents about bathroom practices, and they did not train paraeducators to take children to the bathroom, according to the tort claim.

The district also did not develop "safeguard to assure that paraeducators would not be subjected to false allegations of sexual abuse or to assure severely disabled children against sexual abuse," according to the tort claim.

According to the tort claim, district leaders did not listen to objections from Christy-Hamilton, who did not want to children of the opposite gender to use the bathroom during the 2012-13 school year. District leaders responded by telling him and others they had to comply with the requirement or be fired for insubordination, according to the tort claim.

In November 2015, Christy-Hamilton took the girl, who was reported to have significant limitations in her ability to communicate, to the bathroom, and her mother filed a complaint against him the next day, according to the tort claim. District leaders quickly suspended him and called the state Department of Human Services, according to the tort claim.

Christy-Hamilton and his wife had their first child last year, but the Human Services Department restricted contact with his baby until the charges were cleared this year, according to the tort claim.

For more reading about his trial, see The Oregonian/OregonLive's past coverage.

— Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports