Oregon school sex abuse scandal widens as more investigations reveal wider cover up 

New sex abuse allegations at an Oregon school district near Portland are rocking the community after two teachers were arrested earlier and charged with sexual abuse of students.  

Now authorities have revealed that three more teachers are under investigation, opening an additional state investigation against a school principal and the district superintendent for failure to report child safety concerns.  

Previously, The Lion reported that a St. Helens School District school board member resigned and the district superintendent and a principal were on leave after law enforcement said the district failed to notify them of sex abuse allegations in the earlier cases.  

In those cases, local police arrested a current choir teacher, Eric Stearns, and a retired math teacher, Mark Collins, after a two-month investigation. 

In the latest reports, police said they received tips from students about “criminal conduct” by teachers that involved students, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).  

“We learned of an active investigation by St. Helens Police Department of one of our middle school teachers for alleged criminal conduct. That teacher has been placed on administrative leave,” said a man identified as St. Helens School District Board Vice Chair Trinity Monahan, according to a post by Corey DeAngelis on X.  

DeAngelis is a school reform evangelist and a Senior Fellow at the American Culture Project.  

OPB also reported that Oregon’s Department of Human Services (ODHS) confirmed that it’s now investigating two additional high school employees for alleged sex abuse. 

ODHS is also investigating the suspended superintendent, Scot Stockwell, and St. Helens High School Principal Katy Wagner, who is also placed on administrative leave, for failure to report child safety concerns.  

Schools are closed today, after students organized a walkout yesterday to protest the possible cover-up by administrators of these child sex crimes.  

Parents are also expressing anger and frustration.  

“I’m outraged that it was covered up,” said St. Helen’s High School parent, Sarah Young, according to local Fox News 12. “It’s when I realized that everyone knows, everyone knew.” 

“It’s come so fast from so many different kids about so many different teachers,” St. Helens Middle School parent Tommi Biden told the local Fox affiliate.  

In the case of Collins, the teacher was allowed to continue to have contact with students even after police began their investigation. It’s unclear in the other cases how long the district was alleged to have known about the abuse.   

The revelations prompted outrage by the community, which demanded answers at a local school board meeting.  

At that meeting Stockwell and then-board chair Ryan Scholl told the community that police advised them not to suspend the teacher.  

St Helens Police Chief John Hogue subsequently said those statements aren’t true, leading to Scholl’s resignation and Stockwell’s suspension.  

A pop-up window on the St. Helens School District website said that the district is working to appoint an acting superintendent in the meantime.    

“We are appalled and deeply saddened by the crisis our school community is experiencing after arrests were made for child sexual abuse at St. Helens High School,” said a statement by the district on the pop-up. “We were also just informed of an active investigation by St. Helens Police Department of one of our middle school teachers for alleged criminal conduct. That teacher has been placed on administrative leave and we are cooperating with the St. Helens Police Department.”  

The board has scheduled a meeting on Monday, Nov. 25^th to introduce the potential temporary acting superintendent candidates.  

The community will likely be highly organized. On Thursday night there was a community meeting at the local library to discuss events and to support the students, reported the Fox news affiliate.  

At the previous school board meeting one parent demanded the entire school board resign, warning them he’d organize against them at elections if they don’t.  

Another parent is focusing on the kids.   

“I want it to never happen again and I want these kids to recover and realize what they went through is not normal,” Young told the local Fox station.