New Jersey district settles sex abuse lawsuit involving former teacher for $6 million

WINSLOW TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A southern New Jersey school district will pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by two students who claim they were sexually assaulted for years by a former high school teacher. The male students had filed separate lawsuits weeks apart alleging they were assaulted by Nicholas Zaccaria, a social studies and history teacher at Edgewood High School, which is now known as Winslow Township High School, between 1998 and 2003. Both men said Zaccaria took them separately to dinner at fancy steakhouses and Italian restaurants and also gave them money from the stage crew’s petty cash account. The Winslow Board of Education approved the settlements in December, without any admission of liability. District officials declined comment, as did Zaccaria.