a very judgmental take

This is a very judgement based situation. Schools I attended in the 1970s left single adults alone with kids in all kinds of situations that make this kind of abuse possible. Changing how they operate, making less private spaces available for abuse on school campuses to occur in, placing less trust in the individuals and relying on larger groups to ensure that behavioral norms are followed... all those are things that should have been happening 50 years ago, but apparently didn't in this small town. Maybe now they will, or maybe they'll just bury their heads in the sand until the next case comes along and slaps them with another tax hike.