PORTLAND, Ore. — St. Helens High School students return to school Tuesday after a week of protests on campus due to a teacher sex abuse scandal where a current and former educator were both accused of abusing a total of nine students.
One of the teachers, Eric Stearns, taught choir at the school up until his arrest last Tuesday, even though police had notified the district he was under investigation nearly two months prior. Students walked out of class Thursday morning with anger and outrage over how the district handled the police investigation.
St. Helens High School closed Thursday, Friday and Monday amid the student-led protests on campus that included both parents and community members. In response, the school district placed Superintendent Scot Stockwell and St. Helens High School Principal Katy Wagner on paid administrative leave on Friday. The chair of the school board also resigned that same day.
Many students and parents, however, have said it is not enough to make up for years of instances of kids feeling uncomfortable in class.
"If anybody reports this stuff it was made to feel like it's not that big a deal, like we just want it to go away," said Brandon Hogan, a parent in St. Helens School District.
Tips from a TikTok creator and St. Helens High School graduate in part lead to the investigation, alleging "historic sexual abuse" at the school. Now, Stearns faces seven counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. And, former teacher Mark Collins faces similar charges for sexual abuse.
In March, the district also paid $3.5 million to settle a former students' civil right suit against a former St. Helens track coach. The lawsuit alleged the district was aware for over a decade of predatory behavior by a teacher and track coach but did nothing.
"They let people with multiple strikes against them, multiple harassment claims still teach," said Robert Schaffer, a student at St. Helens High School. "And it's sickening."
Some parents told KGW that they plan to pull their children from the district because they have lost trust with the administration.
The case is still being investigated, police said, but they wouldn't reveal if more victims had come forward in the wake of the announcement of the two arrests.
KGW's Devon Haskins, Jamie Parfitt, Katherine Cook, Ashley Grams, Anthony Macuk, Evan Watson, John Adams, Jared Cowley and Amy-Xiaoshi DePaola contributed reporting to this article.