Rolling Hills

The owner of a Torrance day care center has appealed for a license for the Rolling Hills school she voluntarily shut down after a teacher was arrested for allegedly sexually molesting students.

In a hearing before an administrative law judge, Claudia Krikorian’s attorneys argued for a license for the Peninsula Montessori School No. 2 in Rolling Hills.

Krikorian applied for a license in July, 1984, and was denied in October, 1984.

State Department of Social Services officials turned down the license application after investigators learned that teacher Moshen Dornayui had been arrested by Rolling Hills Estates police on suspicion of child molesting, department spokesman Jack Germaine said.

Krikorian had been operating the Rolling Hills school at 26825 Rolling Hills Road for about a year before the department pressured her to apply for a child-care center license. She voluntarily shut down the school after the arrest and the license denial, he said.

She has continued to operate the Peninsula Montessori School No. 1 in Torrance, which has a state license.

Germaine said an investigation at the Torrance school after Dornayui’s arrest in the summer of 1984 found no reason for its license to be revoked.

The judge will make a recommendation to the state licensing director based on the hearing, which the director may accept, reject or modify, Germaine said.