Students and parents are livid after learning that two teachers in the Oregon school district were arrested for allegedly sexually abusing students. They are demanding answers from officials with the St. Helens School District as to why the teachers were allowed to remain in the classroom despite allegations dating back to 2019.
Last week, choir teacher Eric Stearns, 46, and retired math teacher Mark Collins, 64, were arrested following a two-month investigation, which uncovered nine female victims between the two teachers.
Stearns was charged with seven counts of second-degree sex abuse and one count of third-degree sex abuse, while Collins was charged with two counts of second-degree sex abuse and one count of attempted sex second-degree sex abuse.
The day after the arrests, parents and students flooded a school board meeting, wanting to know why they were left in the dark about the allegations.
"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," one student angrily told the board, according to The Daily Mail.
"I just want to know what's being done. We seem to attract pedophiles in our school district," one parent said. "What's being done to prevent that, and what's being done to the staff that allowed that to happen?" a parent in attendance asked.
Ryan Scholl, the chairman of the school board, claimed that he was informed of the investigation but was told by the police not to put the teachers on leave, KOIN reported.
St. Helens Acting Police Chief Joseph Hogue pushed back against Scholl's comment, saying, "At no point did the officers tell the school district or advise the school district in any way to not put the teacher on admin leave."
After the uproar from the community, Superintendent Scot Stockwell and St. Helens High School Principal Katy Wagner were both placed on administrative leave, while Scholl resigned from his post.