A court keeps open an investigation into alleged sexual abuses against minors at the concerted school Alborada, located in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). The case affects a center caregiver, currently on provisional release, and is pending trial, without a firm resolution to date.
The educational center is part of the Red Educativa Arenales and maintains historical ties with Opus Dei, both due to its foundational origin—through the Fundación Tajamar—as well as the pastoral care provided by priests of the prelature to students and families, a fact acknowledged by Opus Dei’s own Office in Spain. There is, at this time, no charge against the ecclesiastical institution.
First internal alerts in 2024
According to information published by El Plural, part of the school’s teaching staff claims that around September 2024 they conveyed to the management their concern about behaviors considered “strange” or “inappropriate” on the part of a caregiver who worked with early childhood education students, some of them diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
According to testimonies and internal emails to which the media outlet reportedly had access, these warnings did not lead at that time to the activation of internal protocols or the removal of the worker. In the following months, the caregiver continued to perform usual functions at the center, including accompaniment tasks and activities during school hours.
The school management, however, rejects this version. From El Alborada, it is maintained that there was no prior knowledge of concrete facts and that, until spring 2025, no sufficiently precise information was received that would justify a different action.
Formal complaint and judicial action in 2025
The turning point occurred in spring 2025. According to El Plural, a teacher began to observe behaviors that she considered gravely inappropriate starting from April 22, and decided to document them through recordings. In May 2025, she filed a formal complaint, which led to the caregiver’s arrest.
After his arrest, the worker was placed on provisional release, with a 100-meter restraining order from the school and, according to some sources cited by the media outlet, from certain minors. The school then proceeded to dismiss the worker and reported the facts to the authorities.
From El Alborada, it is stated that the action was immediate once concrete information was received and that legal channels were followed. This version is questioned by part of the teaching staff and the complaining families, who maintain that the center acted with delay.
Complaints, families, and public services
The judicial investigation is supported by complaints filed by families, teachers, and witnesses. El Plural speaks of dozens of complaints and around two dozen possible victims, all of them young minors. These figures, however, have not been officially confirmed by the judicial authority.
Some families turned to the Barnahus service of the Community of Madrid, specialized in care for minor victims of sexual violence. According to testimonies gathered by the media outlet, the care would have been partial in some cases. The Alcalá de Henares City Council has stated that it did not receive formal complaints and that the competencies correspond to the regional administration, while the consulted departments offered no response at the time the information was published.
Political dimension and institutional response
The case also reached the parliamentary sphere. The Más Madrid group registered a question in the Madrid Assembly to find out how many transfer requests had been made after the facts became known. The Assembly Board agreed not to admit the question, considering that it referred to a private center and was not a direct competency of the Community.
In parallel, the school requested to join the judicial proceedings as an injured party, alleging the damage caused to its image and the educational community. The caregiver’s defense, for its part, maintains that the center could have subsidiary civil liability, an issue that will have to be resolved in court.
School statement and current situation
After the publication of the reports, El Alborada issued an internal statement in which it reiterated its innocence, denied any prior knowledge of the facts, and regretted that the case was reactivated in the media during the Christmas season, without judicial updates. The center assures that it will collaborate with Justice until the final clarification of what happened.
To date, the proceedings remain open, there is no sentence, and the versions regarding prior knowledge of the facts and the school’s actions continue to clash, awaiting Justice to determine responsibilities.