An investigation into allegations of misconduct, made by two VHS graduates against a Vashon High School (VHS) teacher in October 2022, has been suspended following receipt of the teacher’s resignation.

The district informed the public of the resignation on Monday, April 10, in a community email written by Superintendent Slade McSheehy.

The teacher’s resignation, which is pending approval by the school board at its next meeting on April 27, is effective Aug. 31. McSheehy did not name the teacher in his email, nor has the teacher’s signed resignation letter yet been released.

In his email to the community, McSheehy said the teacher will remain on paid administrative leave until that time, not performing any duties or interacting with students as a staff member.

McSheehy also thanked the public for its “understanding and patience” during the investigation, saying the district’s highest priority was “the community’s trust and ensuring the safety of all students” — identical language used by McSheehy following the resignation, on March 24, of another teacher separately accused, in August 2022, of having an inappropriate relationship with a recently graduated student.

The resignation of that teacher, Kara Sears — effective Oct. 31, with her remaining on paid leave until that time — was approved by the board on March 23.

No public records for this investigation

In a phone call and email, McSheehy additionally said that in the case of the resignation announced this week, the district will have no public records to make available to the community regarding the teacher’s investigation, because the investigation had not been completed at the time of the resignation.

“The investigation’s interviews were suspended upon receipt of the resignation and no finalized investigative report was shared with VISD,” he said.

McSheehy said that when it comes to reporting any violation of the teacher’s code of professional conduct, surfaced by the investigation, to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the district will follow all state statutes.

Washington Administrative Code 181-86-110 outlines the duty of district superintendents to file written reports with OSPI in cases where there is sufficient reliable information to believe that certificated employees are not of “good moral character or personally fit” or have “committed acts of unprofessional conduct.”

McSheehy did not respond to a follow-up question, asking what evidence the district could cite in any communication to OSPI about the teacher’s lack of fitness or moral character, given that the district would not receive a report on the suspended investigation.

“The district will not have any further comment regarding reports to OSPI,” he said.

He also said that no direct communication about the teacher’s resignation or the suspended investigation had been made to the former VHS students who reported the misconduct, or their attorneys.

“It is not our responsibility to notify the people who filed the investigation,” he said.

Attorneys say matter is not over

An attorney for the two separate VHS graduates who accused the teacher of misconduct, alleged to have taken place in 2001 and 2008, commented on the case, via email, on Monday.

“Our clients share their frustration with the rest of the Vashon community that this resignation — while overall a heartening development — will pause the school district’s investigation into those allegations before any report has been completed and made public,” said Lara Hruska, of Cedar Law. “However, we expect that the Office of Professional Conduct for OSPI will complete its own investigation into the unprofessional conduct at issue and that agency’s final report will be a public record.”

Additionally, Hruska said that it is her hope that VISD has already sent a complaint to OSPI pertaining to the allegations her clients had made.

“If not — and VISD refuses to fulfill that obligation to keep all students safe — then we can look to the Puget Sound Educational Service District to do so before going to OSPI directly,” she said, explaining the process by which the certification of teachers can be challenged in Washington.

“Accountability can be slow but this is not the end of the process,” Hruska said.

Investigation centered on policy violation

The now-suspended investigation of the teacher had pertained to violations of the VISD’s policy 5253, which stipulates the district’s role in protecting students from a broad range of inappropriate, boundary-crossing behaviors by staff members.

In November, Hruska and Jessica Johanson-Kubin, of Cedar Law, provided a statement to The Beachcomber detailing the accusations made by their clients, who had graduated from VHS in 2008 and 2001.

According to the statement, both students were “groomed by the same VHS teacher and manipulated into romantic relationships with that teacher shortly after their respective graduations.”

Both relationships lasted the course of the summer months before each graduate left for college, they said.

Their statement also detailed a previous VISD investigation of the teacher in 2008, which occurred after friends of the 2008 graduate reported the relationship to the district.

At that time, the attorneys’ statement said, the 2008 graduate had “minimized what happened and was somewhat uncooperative with the investigation because, despite the fact that she’d experienced the relationship as harmful while it was happening, she wanted to protect the teacher.”

The 2008 investigation determined that no disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher at that time, according to district documents.

In a “Letter of Direction” signed by then-superintendent Terry Lindquist, the teacher was informed that no evidence had been found to substantiate that there had been “a grooming or intimate relationship” with the 2008 graduate while she was a student, as “the conduct” had occurred after she had graduated.

However, Lindquist’s letter also stated that the teacher “had lost the trust and confidence of the District administration,” and needed to improve on “recogniz[ing] it is inappropriate to act on romantic feelings with your students or newly graduated students.”

(Lindquist’s letter, obtained through a public disclosure request by the 2008 graduate and then by The Beachcomber, redacted the teacher’s name).

The attorneys for the graduates also detailed, in their statement made in November, how the two graduates met and decided to file their complaints with the District.

“… As the 2008 graduate gained an adult perspective on the teacher’s actions, she began to see what had happened as more and more inappropriate, abusive and concerning, and she increasingly worried about the safety of current District students,” the attorneys said.

The 2008 graduate’s concern was deepened, according to the attorneys, by rumors she heard that the same teacher had previously had a romantic relationship with at least one other recently graduated student.

In 2019, those rumors were confirmed when a family friend on the island connected the 2008 graduate and the 2001 graduate.

“Until 2019, the 2001 graduate had never heard of it happening to another student,” the attorneys said. “As an adult looking back, she also saw the teacher’s behavior to her as having been inappropriate and abusive.”

The statement detailed how the lives of both graduates had been deeply affected, in intervening years, by the teacher’s conduct.

“Both graduates feel the experience with the teacher was traumatizing,” the attorneys said. “The long-term emotional impacts continue to affect them to this day. Though they decided that they needed to take action as soon as they met in 2019, it took several years for them to feel ready to undertake the emotionally draining, time-consuming, and potentially re-traumatizing process of filing a formal complaint with the district. Their only goal in coming forward is to hold the teacher accountable, and protect current and future students.”