Oregon teachers arrested on child sex charges as school cancels classes, places superintendent and high school principal on leave and accepts board chair’s resignation

The arrest of two Oregon teachers on child sex abuse charges has led the school district to cancel classes, place the superintendent and high school principal on leave and accept the board chair’s resignation.

Earlier this year, the St. Helens School District paid out a former student who was abused by a third teacher $3.5million, at which time Superintendent Scot Stockwell promised to ensure no other students would be harmed, the Oregonian reports.

But when TikTok creator Doug Weaver, an alumnus of the high school, posted a video about his experience at the school in September – including references to former social studies and track coach Kyle Jarred Wroblewski, for whom the settlement was paid – other allegations came to light.

Weaver said he started receiving private messages from students still enrolled at the high school, who claimed choir teacher Eric Stearns was still abusing students, according to KGW. 

‘I was not intending all this – a school expose,’ the now 36-year-old said.

‘I was just sharing my experiences of what it was like for me in high school and it just snowballed.’ 

During the investigation, St. Helens Acting Police Chief Joseph Hogue said they also started to hear reports about recently-retired math teacher Mark Collins sexually abusing children as well.

Hogue then subpoenaed the district for records of the two teachers, and found reports students filed over the years of inappropriate touching that the district did not previously disclose – as required by law.

‘That was where the breakdown was,’ Hogue said.

‘They reported this to high school staff and nothing happened, and they believed nothing ever would,’ he said of the students who reported the misconduct. 

Stearns has now been accused of sexually abusing six students between 2015 to 2020, allegedly touching their necks, chests, buttocks or mouths inappropriately, according to the Oregonian.

He is now facing seven counts of second-degree sex abuse and one count of third-degree sex abuse, and had been teaching up until last Tuesday, a parent whose child was in his choir class told KGW.

Collins is also accused of abusing three students between 2017 and January 21, 2023, allegedly touching their inner thighs or in one case ‘attempting to cause’ the student to touch his penis.

He is also facing two counts of second-degree sex abuse and one count of attempted sex second-degree sex abuse.

Both have pleaded not guilty, with an attorney representing Stearns arguing that a grand jury conflated the allegations against him with those against Collins.

‘This is not only prejudicial, but unconstitutional,’ the lawyer told the New York Times. ‘As a result, Mr Stearns will not only be litigating his criminal matter, but intends to file a civil case.’

She continued to claim that ‘haphazard law enforcement work has been done’ that cause ‘immense trauma within the community [that is] unlikely to be undone.’ 

But as the allegations came to light, Wagner said, school district officials slammed him for his video.

‘Retraumatization and revisiting past-issues that have been addressed make it difficult to move forward in a positive direction as a school community,’ Principal Katy Wagner wrote to the community at the time.

‘Sharing videos on social media about events that took place over a decade ago without any context simply invokes fear, spreads rumors and harms our current students and staff, who are doing all the right things.’

Following Stearns’ and Collins’ arrests on Thursday, though, student-led protests caused the high school to close on Thursday and all district schools were closed on Friday as dozens of enraged students and parents called for Superintendent Stockwell and Wagner to resign.

Among those protesting was Mark Russell and his daughter, Madi Falardeau, who had previously claimed Stearns kissed her on top of the head, touched her neck and told her he loved her.

Falardeau’s parents complained to the principal and superintendent back in 2022, and when no action was taken, Falardeau’s parents transferred her to another school.

‘There’s a lot of issues goin on that we feel are being ignored,’ Jorja, a senior at the school, told OPB. ‘But the thing with Stearns really just tipped us over the edge.’

Anthony, another senior, said he had a close bond with Stearns during is high school career and said the teacher was ‘like a father figure to me.

‘I just remember sobbing and crying in my mom’s arms, because it hurt so bad,’ he said of the betrayal.

‘My friends are freshmen, and they deserve to be safe in this school for as long as they attend.’ 

The school district ultimately voted unanimously to place Stockwell on paid administrative leave during an emergency board meeting on Friday, and the district later placed Wagner on leave.

It also announced later that day that Board Chair Ryan Scholl resigned.

Stockwell had served as superintendent since 2015, while Wagner has been principal since 2018. 

‘We’ve heard the concerns that have been raised and are committed to transparency and working toward fostering a safe, supportive environment for all students,’ the district said in a statement Friday.

‘Based off of our last meeting, it was pretty clear that at this point, the community has lost faith in a number of different things for the district, the superintendent, the boards.

‘For the purposes of us to be able to move forward, I believe it’s going to be in our best interest to make towards placing our current superintendent on paid administrative leave.’

Vice Chair Trinity Monahan also said the district would examine its systems for addressing complaints, and has tentative plans to meet again as soon as Wednesday to determine who should succeed Stockwell.

In the meantime, Columbia County District Attorney Joshua Pond said his office is investigating whether the district broke any laws by not forwarding reports of sexual abuse to law enforcement,