ST. HELENS, Ore. — St. Helens High School closed early Thursday and will remain closed Friday amid widespread student-led protests on the campus due to a teacher sex abuse scandal. The crowd of mostly student protesters began to gather at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday outside the school, eventually moving out to stand along the edge of street.
Multiple students and parents told KGW they'd been told the school had been closed. As of shortly after noon, there is no official closure message on the district's website. The school district has not returned KGW's requests for comment, and no one answered the phone at the district office.
The scandal broke Tuesday afternoon when St. Helens police announced that two of the high school's teachers — current teacher Eric Stearns and retired teacher Mark Collins — had been arrested after a two-month sex abuse investigation that had been prompted by allegations of "historic sexual abuse" at the school.
School officials said Stearns was on administrative leave, but it was initially unclear when the school first learned of the allegations. The school board acknowledged Wednesday that Stearns had been allowed to continue teaching up until his arrest despite the district learning in September that he was under police investigation.
Furious parents packed the room at a district school board meeting Wednesday evening and called for the entire board to resign, with community members accusing the members of ignoring repeated accusations and standing by while the alleged abuse continued.
Thursday's student protest crowd, which also included a few parents and community members supporting the students, grew to at least 100 people and eventually made its way out to the edge of Gable Road. The protest continued for hours, with students chanting in the rain and drawing honks of support from passing cars. Some people began bringing water and food for the protesters.
Many of the students held signs criticizing the school and district’s leadership, saying they don’t feel safe knowing that two teachers now charged with sex abuse had worked at the school.
"Kids need to be safe in this town, and they're not in this school at all," said parent Christina Baumgardner, who was at the protest, along with her son, Wyatt.
She called for both the district superintendent and the school's principal to be fired.
Wyatt added that he and other students were protesting "just to know that it's not right to have predators be at our school, and be able to be here for two months," apparently referencing the decision to allow Stearns to keep teaching.
After the closure was announced, the crowd remained but began moving down the road toward the intersection with Highway 30, where they continued to protest into the afternoon.
The St. Helens school board will discuss putting the superintendent, Scot Stockwell, on paid administrative leave during a scheduled meeting on Friday.