St. Helens community demands accountability in school abuse allegations at town forum

In response to the allegations that two teachers, one of whom has since left the St. Helens School District, sexually abused students, the community of St. Helens held a forum Friday night to help families piece together how to make sure the allegations are taken seriously by schools.

Kicking off the town hall was the family of a well-known St. Helens plaintiff — known as Jessica Doe. Her family is staying anonymous.

“All our government officials and state, court leaders follow this, but just get to work, that’s all I gotta say,” said Doe’s family member.

Doe came to a $3. 5 million settlement with the St. Helens School District earlier this year, after accusing the district of not doing enough to protect students from former track coach Kyle Wroblewski, who was eventually convicted of sex abuse.

The St. Helens Police Department told KATU that its recent investigation began when a Doug Weaver, a TikToker originally from St. Helens, came forward.

“I had never heard of Eric Stearns before this,” said Weaver.

Eric Stearns is the choir teacher who was arrested about a week ago, for allegedly sexually abusing students.

Because of Weaver’s social media presence, he got wind of allegations against Stearns.

“I’m an educator. So I’m a mandated reporter. And I’m like, I can’t just sit on this. I can’t just ignore this, so I made the Safe Oregon report about Eric Stearns,” said Weaver.

That’s when St. Helens police got involved.

“So I think once that ball started rolling, I think more students started speaking out. That’s where there were the allegations against Collins,” said Weaver.

Students told KATU that Mark Collins used to teach math at St. Helens High School. He, too, was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing students.

Since then, one teacher at St. Helens Middle School has been under investigation by St. Helens police and six current and former district employees have been under investigation by the Oregon Department of Human Services.

St Helens police have put out a news release, stating in part that "the St. Helens School District is fully cooperating with detectives" in regards to their investigation of the middle school teacher.

https://katu.com/news/local/st-helens-school-district-community-demands-accountability-in-school-child-sex-abuse-allegations-at-town-forum

_______________
Stay up to date with our social media:

KATU on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katunews
KATU on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KATUNews
Subscribe to KATU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmDTerxNU_gvCWLkIPkqghA/?sub_confirmation=1

Daily News Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFtHM_AbvnEUkd_YRTlZpGKkbczT5w062

For more information, visit https://katu.com/

Have a news tip? Send it directly to us:

Email us: newstips@katu.com
Call the Newsroom: 503.231.4222

KATU is a OR based station and a ABC Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today.

#KATU #Katu2abc #Portland #Oregon #localnews #oregonnews

Author: KATU News
Go to Source

News post in at: November 25, 2024, 3:00 am.

Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News.Science – News Science