BREAKING: Two public school teachers have been arrested & charged with sexually abusing 9 students in Oregon.
The Superintendent & Principal were put on leave & the board chair RESIGNED
Students and parents WENT OFF at the school board meeting.
Here's the video
Buckle up👇🧵
Student: "What was your reaction to finding out that [choir teacher] Eric Stearns was an active p*dophile with immediate access to minors for two months? You need to RESIGN."
Student: "When I first moved here, I was told by him that I could come to him for absolutely anything, that he could be MY FATHER.. He told me that he was MY FATHER if I needed him to be."
Student: "He hugged me, kissed me on the head, and told me that he loved me.. my mom specifically made complaints about Mr. Stearns putting his hand around my neck as a 'vocal exercise' – that, too, went swept under the rug.. you are all to blame. You are all guilty."
Parent: "You guys and the teachers – they have normalized this behavior. You're part of the grooming process. I hope you hear us. Because you didn't hear our children."
"I am so beyond mad that you guys willingly and knowingly put my daughter at risk. You guys need to be held just as accountable as the p*dophil*s that you let in the schools."
"Each and every single one of you needs to RESIGN. If you guys don't step down, when you do come up for election, I'm going to be the loudest one out there talking about how you let this go down."
Student: "I am just disgusted with you guys for letting him near me and my friends.. they were let around a p*dophil*."
"Two months this teacher was at the school in contact with minors and children.. if you were aware of this situation, notified through police and investigators, why was he still allowed on school grounds?"
A student brings up other teachers still on campus.
"Why was he allowed back on campus at all? .. he's still a coach here!"
"You guys have all known about it for years.. Why haven't you done anything? .. [We] don't want to be around p*dophil*s."
"When I went to the high school.. and I talked to the principal, and she brushed it off like it was nothing!"
"This has been going on since 2016.. You guys knew about it. We knew you knew about it and you did nothing about it."
"Our teachers and staff used to be the ones we trusted our children with and now they are the least trusted."
"Our school district doesn't have the best record of having p*dophil*s in our schools.. we seem to attract p*dophil*s to our school district.."
"[Eric] Stearns is facing 7 counts of second-degree sex abuse and 1 count of third-degree sex abuse involving six different students.
[Mark] Collins is facing 2 counts of second-degree sex abuse and 1 count of attempted second-degree sex abuse."
Stearns is shown on the left.
The @StHelensSD school board chair, Ryan Scholl, said law enforcement advised the district to keep the choir teacher accused of sexually abusing students in the classroom.
The police chief says that isn't true.
The board chair has resigned.
@StHelensSD St. Helens School District Superintendent Scot Stockwell and Principal Katy Wagner were both put on paid leave.
Salary: $189,745
The district is @StHelensSD.
@StHelensSD "St. Helens High School has closed its doors early Thursday and will remain closed through Monday after protesters gathered outside the campus following an investigation that led two teachers to be accused of sexual abuse."
@StHelensSD
@StHelensSD "Top law enforcement officials in Columbia County say the St. Helens School District received allegations that two high school teachers sexually abused students over a period of several years and failed to share that information with authorities."
@StHelensSD
@StHelensSD The school district (@StHelensSD) gave Eric Stearns the "Tire-Less Teacher Award" in 2022.
"The police said the St. Helens School District was informed of the abuse allegations as early as 2019 but officials failed to alert the authorities."
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