PORTLAND, Ore. — A lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday alleging the St. Helens School District and school officials failed to protect a student from sexual abuse by a teacher and coach from 2017-18.
The suit was filed by a former student who alleges St. Helens High School teacher and track coach, Kyle Wroblewski, sexually abused her on multiple occasions over a seven month period at school and at Wroblewski’s home. The abuse began when the student was 16-years-old.
Wroblewski was sentenced in August to 50 months in jail after pleading guilty to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse.
Documents filed by the Columbia County District Attorney’s office showed the District had reports of Wroblewski’s inappropriate behavior toward students dating back more than a decade.
In April 2008, court documents show the school reprimanded Wroblewski for smelling girls, helping female students stretch at track in sexually suggestive ways, caressing female students' hair, and initiating shoulder massages with students.
In April 2009, he was in trouble again, according to the lawsuit, for similar sexually suggestive behavior with underage female students and was temporarily suspended.
Beyond a suspension, Wroblewski remained a teacher and coach at the high school until he was arrested in May 2018. At that time, he was charged with 32 counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and two counts of official misconduct in the first degree.
The federal lawsuit filed by the now 18-year-old woman under a pseudonym names St. Helens School District, the district board, the superintendent, principals and a guidance counselor.
The suit alleges that the St. Helens School District was negligent in failing to take action to address the risk posed by Wroblewski towards students.
The lawsuit also alleges that the school district violated the victim’s civil rights, was “deliberately indifferent to the safety of students,” and acted with “reckless and outrageous indifference to a highly unreasonable risk of harm.”
In addition to compensatory damages, the lawsuit asks for punitive damages to punish and deter repetition of this type of behavior.
