Clovis North Alum Sues District, Alleges Drama Teacher Enabled Sex Abuse

A former Clovis North High School student filed a civil complaint on Dec. 19, 2025, accusing Clovis Unified School District and two men of enabling sexual abuse in the school drama program. The suit names Andrew Cardillo, identified as the Clovis North drama teacher, and Michael Conner, described as a community member and parent, and says district failures in background checks, investigation and supervision allowed grooming and abuse to occur.

The complaint alleges Michael Conner began sexually abusing the plaintiff in March 2010 after months of grooming and that Cardillo routinely behaved inappropriately toward students and permitted Conner to be present in the drama classroom. The filing asserts the district failed to conduct proper background checks on Cardillo, did not investigate rumors about his conduct, and did not properly oversee the drama department, enabling outsiders to gain access to students.

Clovis Unified’s spokesperson has said Cardillo “left Clovis Unified in January 2012” and that Conner “was never an employee.” The complaint does not, in the materials reviewed, include criminal convictions for Cardillo or Conner. The suit invokes a broader legal window opened by California legislation in 2020, which allows victims of abuse by school employees to seek damages up to age 40, or within five years of a new illness or “psychological injury” as a result of abuse, a change that has led to more school-related claims statewide.

Local context and recent cases add weight to the complaint’s allegation of a pattern. A June 17, 2025, lawsuit by five former Clovis Unified elementary students alleges long-term abuse by former Fancher Creek Elementary teacher Neng Yang and accuses school officials of blaming victims rather than reporting abuse. Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC partner Jason Amala said, “School officials have been mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse for decades. They are mandatory reporters because they are often in the best position to see suspected abuse and to report it so it stops. This case illustrates why. Instead of reporting Yang and protecting their students, it appears school officials blamed the girls, looked the other way, and enabled Yang to abuse their students for over a decade.”

Other recent controversies involving Clovis Unified include a complaint alleging that Spectrum Center Clovis staff used “repeated, unnecessary, abusive, and unsafe physical interventions and isolations” on a special education student, and that the student “suffered and continues to suffer great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life.” A former Clovis High counselor, Estevan Reyes, has also pleaded no contest to a lewd act upon a child in a separate case.

For Fresno County families, the new Clovis North complaint raises questions about student safety, how schools enforce visitor and volunteer policies, and whether mandatory reporter duties were fulfilled. The lawsuit, and the cluster of recent filings, may prompt renewed scrutiny of Clovis Unified personnel records, complaint logs, and district practices for supervising extracurricular programs. Readers should watch for court filings, any formal district response, and whether the district adopts clearer checklists for background checks, visitor access and staff oversight to restore trust in school safeguards.