Survivor's Story: Former Presentation Student Accuses Coach of Sexual Abuse
Grace leonis speaks out for the first time, accusing her jv water polo coach of sexually abusing her when she was a freshman. friends say they reported sexting and an inappropriate relationship to the school, but police were never notified, by vicky nguyen, michael bott and and mark villarreal • published march 29, 2018 • updated on january 8, 2019 at 7:30 pm.
Grace Leonis arrived as a freshman at San Jose’s Presentation High School feeling like a fish out of water. A standout swimmer, her prowess in the pool got her to the Catholic school for girls, where tuition runs $20,000 a year.
Leonis joined the water polo team but still struggled to make friends and says she often felt dejected and alone. She says she turned to her junior varsity water polo coach Jenna Roe for support. Leonis, who first met Roe at a water polo camp in August 2013, right before school started, says Roe lavished attention on her.
“I’ve never gotten attention like that before from anybody,” Leonis, now 18, said in a recent interview at her parents’ home in San Jose. “I liked it. I wanted to be around her.”
The two began texting each other. Leonis said she confessed to Roe, 24, that she had a crush on her.
“She told me she felt the same way, and at first, I was like, ‘That’s not right,’” Leonis said.
Leonis, who had just turned 14, said she felt conflicted about her coach’s response.
“It was so confusing ... but I just was like, ‘OK this older person likes me like, how?’” Leonis said. “I'm young. I'm not that attractive. She could get anybody she wants. I was curious, but looking back, she could have easily stopped. She could've called my mom and said, ‘You know, Grace says she has a crush on me, I think I should share that.’”
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Leonis said that conversation marked the beginning of a relationship with her coach that spiraled completely out of control, culminating with an unwanted sexual experience in the back of Roe’s car at a water polo match that year.
But Leonis’s story isn’t just about alleged sexual abuse. It marks the most recent example of what more than a dozen former Presentation students allege is a pattern of covering up reports of sexual abuse at the school.
Reports to Presentation about Coach Jenna Roe
In Leonis’s case, NBC Bay Area has learned three students, including a varsity water polo player named Maya, say they went to athletic director Stacey Mallison in November 2013, just three months after Leonis met Roe. Maya, who asked that we not use her last name, said she and the other girls reported an inappropriate relationship between the two.
“I told Stacey that Jenna was texting Grace inappropriate pictures, she was texting her inappropriate things, and I told her how Jenna spends a ridiculous amount of time with Grace,” Maya said, recalling the other players told Mallison what they had seen as well.
Maya specifically remembers telling Mallison about nude photos that were exchanged between Leonis and Roe, and that Roe told Leonis she loved her.
“[Jenna] would play favorites with Grace. Jenna gave Grace a lot of rides after practice home, and she took my sister and Grace out to dinner all the time and so that's what we told Stacey, and then Stacey told us that she would take care of it, and she said ‘Thank you for reporting this to me,’ and that was it.”
Maya, who said Mallison seemed to take the report seriously, said no one ever spoke to her about it again. But shortly after that, Roe and two other water polo coaches disappeared from campus.
Roe did not respond to multiple requests for comment made by NBC Bay Area by phone and through social media.
School Never Called Police
Maya’s report was enough to get Roe dismissed from Presentation, but it did not trigger a call to authorities.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for Presentation High School, declined NBC Bay Area’s interview requests for this story but said in a written statement, “The female water polo coach was asked not to return to the school immediately after the first report of violations of school policy.”
Singer said the school did not contact police because there was “nothing reported to the school at the time which rose to the level of any reasonable suspicion of abuse.”
He did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s follow-up questions about what specific school policies the coach violated, or why the school did not feel Maya and the other players’ reports constituted reasonable suspicion of abuse.
The Best Friend and Witness
It was Maya’s younger sister, Emily, who asked Maya to go to school leaders. Emily was Leonis’s best friend and teammate on the JV water polo team
“The things that [Grace] told me, I didn't want to abuse that trust, but I knew that something wasn't OK so that's why I told my sister,” Emily said, recalling the tipping point when she asked Maya to go to the athletic director.
“We were all sitting underneath a blanket, and I noticed that Jenna’s hand started to touch Gracie’s leg and started to move up a little bit. I saw that and my heart kind of stopped.”
Emily said that incident was the culmination of many red flags she witnessed, but she didn’t know exactly how to respond. She said the fact coach Roe was a woman was also confusing and perhaps allowed the relationship to initially fly under the radar.
“I think because Jenna was a female, it was kind of hard to decipher between what is just the coach-player relationship and what is inappropriate because you’re not looking for that,” Emily said.
Grace Speaks Out
Leonis, for the first time, is now revealing the full extent of what she says happened between her and Roe. She recalled how the sexting turned physical, something she now views as sexual assault.
“I remember Jenna sending me a picture of a vibrator, asking me if I want her to buy me one,” Leonis said.
She recounted another message she received from Roe while at a San Francisco 49ers game with her father.
“She texted me telling me that she had just touched herself … thinking of me,” Leonis said. “And I’m sitting there next to my dad looking at this text, thinking like, ‘What if he saw that?’ I felt so grossed out that this grown woman did things to herself from thinking about me. My mind couldn’t process that one.”
Sexting progressed into physical touching.
“It first started with just leg touching, like touching my legs, getting close,” Leonis said.
What happened in the back seat of Roe’s car after a water polo game in November 2013, Leonis said, plunged her into four years of deep depression, anxiety and self-blame.
“The main thing that I remember is just the weight on top of me because I didn’t want to look at her, I didn’t want to talk,” Leonis said. “I completely shut down. My whole body turned to stone and I just remember staring out at the roof of the car.”
“She started doing things,” Leonis said. “She would feel my breasts under my shirt, trying to kiss my neck, trying to kiss me. Kissing her kind of made me sick so I just was not [kissing her back]. But she penetrated me.”
Roe had offered to drive Leonis and Emily to the tournament, and Leonis remembers the long ride home.
“I’m just numb. I reach for Emily’s hand in the backset and she's holding my hand the whole ride, and I’m just sobbing,” Leonis said.
Leonis said it would be years before she ever told anyone what happened at that tournament.
Police Get Involved
Leonis’s mom Dina Leonis says she still struggles with what happened to her daughter, sometimes blaming herself for trusting the coach.
“I have guilt. I have shame. I feel I didn't protect her. It hurts me to my core,” Dina said.
She said she thought Roe was a confidant for her daughter, not a predator. She said the school never notified her about Roe’s dismissal.
“My friend said to me, ‘I heard Jenna Roe was fired over an inappropriate relationship with your daughter,’” Dina said. “I said, ‘What?’ I freaked out.”
After trying to get answers from school officials, Dina said she eventually spoke directly with Principal Mary Miller, who explained to her why Roe was dismissed.
“She said, ‘I cannot tell you why she was fired, but I will tell you that she broke three rules in our handbook: she put Grace in her car, she came to your home, and she said she texted Grace for reasons other than sports and events at the school."
Dina said she could not understand why the school never called police, so in March 2014, she reported the incident to police herself.
“I told them that I found out my daughter’s coach was texting her 30 to 40 times a day,” Dina said. “Some things were sexually-related. She told my daughter she loved her.”
Dina said police spoke to witnesses and collected evidence from Grace’s phone. At one point, she said, detectives even congratulated Dina and her husband.
“He high-fived my husband and he told us we had a case that was looking good,” Dina said. “Then it just stopped.”
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said it did not file charges in 2014 due to insufficient evidence.
“We know that this was a difficult decision for the family to hear,” said assistant district attorney Terry Harman in a written statement. “Our office remains vigilant when it comes to the protection of children and the legal steps officials and others need to follow when they hear of potential criminal abuse. We strongly encourage anyone who had information about an apparent crime to call law enforcement immediately.”
Complicating matters for investigators at the time was the fact that Grace did not originally cooperate with law enforcement. She says she was terrified of her friends and family finding out about what had transpired between her and Roe.
“All I had was pure fear of everyone finding out,” Leonis said. “My friends, my family, the teachers, Mary Miller. If they would have just interviewed me and were nice and slow and comfortable, maybe I would have said something. I was just terrified.”
That kind of fear and denial from a sexual abuse survivor is a common response, according to Michael Leininger, a retired detective who spent 28 years with the San Jose Police Department investigating sex crimes against children. He’s now investigating the reports of abuse at Presentation High School with local attorney Robert Allard on behalf of “Make Pres Safe” – a group that now counts more than 20 graduates with accusations against more than 10 teachers, dating all the way back to the mid-1980’s.
“You’re demanding a tremendous amount from a victim,” Leininger said. “When you interview him or her it’s a very traumatic time in their life. It’s normally an event that will follow them for the rest of their lives.”
Leininger said the school clearly violated mandated reporting laws when it did not immediately call police after hearing from Maya and her two teammates.
“Stacey [Mallison] should have immediately contacted Child Protective Services or law enforcement as directed by law,” he said. “She had a reasonable suspicion. It’s crystal clear she failed to do so. We know that she notified [principal] Mary Miller. Mary Miller failed to do so. It was a very, very toxic situation.”
A Renewed Effort
The San Jose Police Department confirms it is now actively investigating whether the school violated mandated reporting laws, but won’t say whether that investigation is specifically tied to Leonis’s case.
However, sources with knowledge of the investigation say detectives have interviewed new witnesses. Leonis, who hasn’t spoken to Roe since the coach was fired, says she’s revealed new information to officers about the extent of what happened to her.
The Leonis family went into mediation with Presentation during Grace’s sophomore year and reached an undisclosed settlement. The school did not acknowledge liability and Grace left the school shortly after. Last year, after dealing with years of self-blame and shame, Grace attempted to take her own life.
“For a while I was like I’m never going to be able to do what I want to do [with my life],” Leonis said. "My whole life is kind of ruined.”
But Leonis said after reading an op-ed written last year by another Presentation student, Kathryn Leehane, about her reports of sexual abuse and misconduct involving a Spanish teacher in 1990, she realized she was not alone.
“I’m like, I’m not the only one at Pres who was abused?” she said.
It started a new chapter for her, and she now hopes to be that life-saver for someone else.
“I want every victim to know that no matter how it happened, it is not your fault,” she said. “You can speak up, let every story be known no matter how small or how big it seems compared to everyone else's. If someone wants to talk to me after this, come to me. I will be an open ear. I want to help.”
Leonis says she’s healing from what happened four years ago, focused on college, and coaching the next wave of swimmers at her local swim club.
“I’m strong now and I’m going to stand up for myself,” she said.
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San Jose Inside
San Jose Inside (https://www.sanjoseinside.com)
Pres Finally Probes Mishandling of Sexual Abuse Claims as SJPD Quietly Closes Its Own Case
By grace hase @grace_hase / december 18, 2019 8.
Victim advocates question whether SJPD really investigated claims of botched sexual abuse cases at Presentation High. (From left, Grace Leonis, Kathryn Leehane and Leslie Gelfland as students at Presentation).
It started innocently enough, with platonic banter about art and poetry.
It was the fall of 1984 and Daisy—whose name has been changed to protect her identity—was a freshman at Presentation High School , a prestigious all-girls parochial school in San Jose. With her Vidal Sassoon-style haircut, she felt worldly in a way most of her peers were not, and her Spanish teacher, John Fernandez, took notice.
The instructor, who often wore a camera around his neck and ran the school’s photography club, began engaging her in one-on-one talks about things like black-and-white imagery and the creative process.
But the discussions began to extend beyond school hours.
Daisy says Fernandez preyed on her “lofty artistic dreams” by turning their after-school lessons into sexually charged encounters in which he would show her nude photos and divulge his predilection for voyeurism. One day, using a project, he flashed an image over her clothed body of naked French women riding bikes and standing in the sand. “He said that it was part of me learning about the French culture,” says Daisy, who shared her story in an exclusive interview with San Jose Inside.
The final time Fernandez projected a nude photo onto Daisy, she says he positioned himself at a desk in the back of the classroom and masturbated. In the coming year, Daisy says she reported what happened to at least five school administrators, including former principal Marian Stuckey, then-vice principal Mary Miller and Sister Pam Chiesa.
Instead of any action being taken, Daisy says Miller called her a fantasist and retaliated against her for even broaching the subject.
More than 40 women have reportedly suffered sexual misconduct and assault over the past four decades at the hands of Pres teachers and coaches.
Virtually all of the accusers came forward after Pres alum Kathryn Leehane’s 2017 Washington Post essay about how the school failed her ignited fierce public backlash and a media firestorm. In addition to the accusations of abuse are claims that the Catholic school broke laws that require administrators to tell law enforcement about the allegations. It took two years and a new Pres president, Holly Elkins, but in September, the school finally agreed to hire a law firm to conduct an independent investigation .
As Pres proceeds with its external inquiry, however, San Jose Inside has learned that law enforcement is quietly putting its own case to rest. After more than a year of investigating whether Pres officials engaged in a conspiracy to conceal sexual misconduct, the San Jose Police Department concluded that there’s no proof of a cover-up.
SJPD Chief Eddie Garcia relayed the message last month in a letter to Leehane. In the missive obtained exclusively by San Jose Inside, Garcia says the complaints have been “thoroughly investigated.” But with dozens of testimonies from survivors and witnesses, Leehane and her allies question whether police conducted a thorough enough probe.
Now, it may be too late.
Silent Treatment
As the driving force behind the website makepressafe.com , Leehane had documented scores of abuse cases at Pres and has come to know many of the women behind the allegations. So when SJPD launched its investigation into Pres, Leehane says then-Sgt. Brian Spears—the detective originally assigned to the case—encouraged her to have survivors reach out to him.
Several took Spears up on the offer. In 2018, Katharine Magana contacted the detective to share how her math teacher made inappropriate comments and pressed his leg up against hers during the 2006-07 school year. She says she never heard back from Spears. Two other women—who asked to remain anonymous—say they, too, contacted the officer by email. One says she never got an answer; the other says she spoke with him by phone.
Yet Lt. Brian Anderson, who has since replaced Spears as the head of the Sexual Assault Unit, says his colleague left no record of communicating with any of the three women, even though one of them sent a written narrative about her claims. “We have a lot of statements that have been made via makepressafe.com,” Anderson says. “These are not police reports and cannot be taken as police reports unless the victim comes to us and makes a statement.”
People who say they witnessed sexual misconduct at Pres also had trouble getting through. At least four people say they contacted Spears and got no reply—including former teacher Tara Komar. She says she called and emailed the investigator twice—to no avail. Nearly a year later, she says she followed up with Capt. Randall Schriefer, who says he forwarded her email on to Anderson. Still, she says she received no response.
Komar acknowledges that she has only secondhand information to offer, but says she told Spears she’d help connect him with educators who had first-hand knowledge. In her emails, she also detailed “red flags” she says she witnessed during her 14-year tenure at the school. And while they weren’t necessarily sexual in nature, she says they were indicative of how Pres handled complaints of inappropriate behavior by teachers.
“It’s disappointing that people are not getting any kind of response from the San Jose Police Department,” Komar says. “When you’re dealing with victims of sexual assaults or you’re dealing with people who are simply trying to help those people, acknowledge the fact that they have tried to give you some information.”
Anderson, however, says information from witnesses like Komar isn’t necessarily pertinent to the investigation, and that police rely more on survivors come forward.
“With a conspiracy case, we got to have victims,” he says. “A conspiracy is almost like putting a second story on a house—we need the foundation.”
When asked if it was protocol to follow up when someone submits a written statement of a crime, Anderson answers affirmatively. So why the radio silence?
After two years of back-and-forth emails and phone calls to SJPD and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Leehane says she only learned in the past month that the crime they were investigating had a statute of limitations of three years.
Leehane is livid.
“They misled us,” she laments, “and re-traumatized a victimized community with their poor communication: failing to give updates, threatening to hang up on people and giving false hope to victims of childhood sexual abuse.”
Leehane says she now plans to focus her energy on pushing to change laws to prevent what happened at Presentation.
Closed Case
Dina Leonis says police and prosecutors failed her daughter in more ways than one.
Five years ago, the San Jose mom says 24-year-old Pres water polo coach Jenna Roe molested 14-year-old Grace Leonis . SJPD investigated the incident twice—once after it happened in 2014, and again in 2018 after an NBC Bay Area report shed light on the decades of alleged misconduct at Pres. Both times, the DA declined to file charges.
Dina Leonis says she even taped a pretext call with Roe in 2014 in which the former coach admitted to sending her daughter a photo of a pink dildo. Leonis recalls Det. Ryan Kimber giving her a high five, saying, “We got her.”
Apparently, he spoke too soon. The statute of limitations expired before the second investigation even commenced. Anderson explains the outcome by saying the case had a lot of “complexities” and the DA had evidentiary reasons to eschew filing charges. Yet the nature of those reasons remains a mystery to anyone but the people who investigated the case. Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman says that shroud of attorney-client secrecy is par for the course.
Glen Smith—a legal fellow at free speech non-profit First Amendment Coalition—says state law is written broadly enough for authorities to keep files under lock even if they close a case. Still, he adds, it’s discretionary.
“The police could if they wanted to elect to release the records despite the existence of the exemption,” Smith says. “They’re not breaking any laws if they were to release it.”
Dina Leonis says the uncertainty is devastating—as is the way the department allegedly treated her family. She says Kimber, who ran the first investigation, intimidated her daughter and that other officers victim-blamed her in police reports.
“They accuse her of changing her story, which she never did,” Dina Leonis said. “She added more later, which is usually what a sexual assault victim does. We didn’t know she was penetrated until way later when she almost killed herself.”
Scarred for Life
Thirty-five years have passed since Daisy says she fell prey to her teacher’s furtive advances, and she still lives with the psychological scars.
Her life turned out different than she imagined. As an incoming freshman, she ranked at the top of her class and set her sights on an Ivy League school. But with Fernandez’s grooming, those dreams began to slip away. Daisy’s grades suffered and the stress became so severe that she would frequently throw up. Instead of attending NYU or Stanford, she settled for community college.
“They ruined my entire life,” she says. “I recovered, but it took a long time to do that.”
She says she also shoulders the burden of being the first person Fernandez allegedly abused. Fellow survivors call her Victim Zero.
“Had they taken into consideration and seriously understood what was happening to me, it may not have happened with others,” Daisy says. “And knowing that, it’s an unbearable amount of guilt that I did something wrong, that I didn’t say the right thing, that maybe I didn’t tell as much of the story as I should have.”
PEOPLE do not be shock by SJPD quietly closing the case. This is the norm for this county’s DA’s office. They prolong the cases and close them without the victims’s input. Then they tell victims the statute of limitation had expired. County supervisors know this, and they continue to increase the salaries of Jeff Rosen and Chief of Police in the county. They all are friends. The County then has to spend big money on substance use and mental health services for victims of rape, domestic violence, and victims of other crimes. There cannot be objectivity and justice where a group of power seeking friends run a county. It is up to us the mothers. fathers, friends, and colleagues of those victims. Santa Clara County web of corruption main crook crook is no other than DA Jeff Rosen!
The scariest thing is that many of the abusers and administration members involved in the cover up are STILL employed at the school and have even been allowed to employ their own children, train new generations of abusers in their students (whom they hire as staff members): Dina Cannizzaro, Julie Edson (who fled when the allegations came out to an all-girls elementary school, which is terrifying), Susan Mikacich (who quickly “retired”/went into hiding), Diane Rosenthal, Kristin Schneider, etc etc… the number of students with rich donor parents whose abuse they covered up who went on to become abusers in their communities as adults is endless. They are flying under the radar because they are white and women. These are daughters of high powered Silicon Valley executives with money to pay to have this behavior covered up. This is appalling.
Quietly LOL as opposed to loudly announcing a 5 year old case closed… Oh the faux drama of it all
He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said. He said. She said.
There are really only two options for the great majority of us who have no first hand knowledge of the events alleged to have occurred.
1. Defer to the “authorities” and expect them to be honest, ethical, and competent, and do the best job they can, or 2. Pick a side, assign moral superiority, rely on vigilante narratives and administer vigilante justice.
What does Grace Hase want the community to do?
It’s more like She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.She said.He said.
The handling of all the allegations over the years is appalling. Shame on SJPD, DA, and Presentation Admin, and the one named Nun. No justice for victims here; their voices went unheard and worse yet got left on the back burner while the time passed until the statute of limitations ran out. Great detective work by sjpd and specifically the sexual assault unit, I think NOT! To all victims, my deepest concern and apologies for all the “adults” who let you down. You deserved better, you deserved justice. God bless you all and give you all the strength of mind and body to move on… I know you will all become better parents than you had to protect,defend, and support you.
Remember when the DeAnza baseball team gang raped a woman? And nobody got prosecuted. And there were third party witnesses. We live in the wealthiest place in the world. And money talks. Equity at city hall? For who? Scammy loves to get in bed with the Church. Eddie married a Campbell girl who should be smacking him in the head. They sent the Garcia kids to the land known as the Bellarmine mafia. He’s in the sack with them now too. Sick place known as San Jose’s is just another version of Catholic pedophilia protection. Not just little alter boys anymore.
I understand that the scammy who loves to get in bet with the church is Jeff Rosen. He definitely is in the business of protecting influential pedophiles, domestic violence perpetrators, and sexual predators! The thing is that some of those that supposedly should protect the public from these crimes are those criminals themselves.
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Watch CBS News
San Jose's Presentation High Releases Sex Abuse Report, Apologizes For Investigator Findings
July 9, 2020 / 11:02 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- Officials at a Catholic high school in San Jose on Thursday released a report investigating past sex abuse claims at the school, apologizing to past victims as they shared the results of the investigation "with heavy hearts."
Prestigious all-girl Presentation High School in San Jose has been embroiled in the allegations of abuse by teachers for several years, with some former students claiming incidents of abuse dating back as far as the 1980s.
- Read the full Presentation High Sexual Misconduct Report
The allegations were further bolstered in 2017 when Presentation High graduate Kathryn Leehane wrote a Washington Post op-ed essay accusing a former Spanish teacher at the school of sexually assaulting her and a classmate in separate incidents when they were students in 1990.
Presentation High President Holly Elkins and the school's Board of Directors launched this recently completed independent investigation last fall .
In a letter addressed to alumni, parents, students and friends of the school, issued in conjunction with the report and signed by Elkins and Board of Directors Chair Sister Pam Chiesa, school officials said, "it is with heavy hearts that we are writing to you today to share the results of the investigation."
The letter said that investigators "received sufficient information to form a good faith belief that sexual misconduct or abuse" involving five former members of the school's faculty as well as one former coach. The conduct in question took place between the early 1980s to 2013.
The former Presentation High faculty members and coach were listed as:
- John Fernandez (deceased), Foreign Language teacher and coach (1982-2004)
- Peggy Orozco, English teacher (1979-1983)
- Jeff House, English and Journalism teacher (1999-2004)
- Kris White, Religion Teacher and Community Involvement Coordinator (2001-2003)
- Jenna Roe, Assistant Varsity Water Polo Coach (2011-2013)
- Dave Garbo, English teacher (2006-2017)
"Misconduct reported encompassed a wide variety of inappropriate acts, including sexual abuse, grooming, touching, kissing, groping, inappropriate fraternization, and other boundary-crossing interactions with students," the letter stated.
Officials also said the report showed instances where school officials -- specifically former Heads of School Mary Miller and Marian Stuckey -- were notified of possible sexual misconduct and took little or no action. The letter also included a lengthy apology to former students impacted by the abuse.
"To the survivors of abuse, we deeply and sincerely apologize. The stark truth is that our school did not live up to its commitment to protect you. We added further harm when we responded defensively when reports of past abuse began to surface in 2017," the letter accompanying the release of the report read.
The apology by school officials continued: "We understand that words cannot measure our regret or erase the harm that you endured. You were hurt, and we can only hope to make amends by caring for you now and doing everything within our power to ensure that students now and in the future will be cared for and safe."
School officials said that they have shared the report appropriate law enforcement, including the San Jose Police Department in addition to the San Jose Diocese and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the survivors of abuse as well as any known current employers of the individuals who conducted sexual abuse or misconduct.
Esther Peralez-Dieckmann who is the executive director for Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence in San Jose, said her non-profit organization has helped the school try to change its culture. She said they've also received funding from a campus group that serves the community.
"While this was a very painful part of their history, the school has actually done a lot of good work," Peralez-Dieckmann said. "We've been asked to come to campus to talk to young women, that's what we want to do, we want to create an environment where young women feel comfortable."
The school has also enacted a new records retention policy, removed any public honor or recognition of the faculty members involved in the abuse as well as the two named former Heads of School.
"I think they've started the journey in terms of looking at their own systems, you know, how do we support young women who make these allegations," Peralez-Dieckmann said.
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Former Santa Cruz teacher investigated for sexual misconduct claims out of San Jose
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION and KPIX) Officials at Presentation High School in San Jose has released a report about an investigation into past sex abuse claims at the school, and one of the teachers under investigation later worked at Kirby School in Santa Cruz.
Allegations against former teachers started when Presentation High graduate Kathryn Leehane wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post accusing a former Spanish teacher of sexual abuse in 2017, according to the report. During the investigation, five former faculty members and a former coach were accused of sexual misconduct or abuse that ranged from grooming students to touching and inappropriate fraternization.
The former faculty members and coach are listed as:
- John Fernandez, Foreign Language teacher and coach
- Peggy Orozco, English teacher
- Jeff House, English and Journalism teacher
- Kris White, Religion teacher and Community Involvement Coordinator
- Jenna Roe, Assistant Varsity Water Polo Coach
- Dave Garbo, English teacher
None of the people accused currently works at Presentation High School.
One of the accused, Jeff House, worked for Kirby School in Santa Cruz after his time at Presentation High School. House is facing allegations of inappropriate grooming and non-consensual sexual misconduct.
A former student who attended the school between 1998 and 2000 said House behaved inappropriately during her sophomore year of high school. She said House gave her A's, no matter what she turned in, and she said he also sent personal emails on weekends and wrote an inappropriate message in her yearbook.
The message included in the report says, "Okay, apparently nothing I think matters to you anyway, so have fun at that other place while I gaze wistfully at the desk only slightly to my right (heavy sigh here). Well, you could at least email [email address redacted] or call when you’re REALLY bored [phone number redacted]. Other than that… Ahh hell, I’m gonna miss you. Love, JH."
She said when her mother heard about what happened, the student left the school and said she believed her mother talked to the Head of School at the time, Mary Miller. She said she believed her mother told Miller about the messages, but that Miller did not ask for more information. Miller denied meeting with the student's mother or being aware of any concerns.
A witness spoke on behalf of another former student, saying House invited her to his house, gave her alcohol and cannabis and sexually assaulted her in 2002 or 2003. She was a freshman in college at the time.
After the incident, the witness said the former student sent a "cautionary email" to the witness and another friend and classmate describing what happened. The witnesses said they went to Miller and told her what happened. Miller allegedly said the matter "would be taken care of."
Miller said in the report that House left the school for unrelated reasons, but said she was aware of a sexual relationship between House and the former student. She said it was the former student who reported it and said it was consensual.
The student later said the story "morphed" to include drugs and lack of consent. Miller said she probably should have conducted an investigate it, but did not because the student was already 18 years old and the student had asked her not to tell anyone.
According to the report, three witnesses said they heard rumors that House dated students. A staff member also said she thought House was a "creep" and saw him having an intimate conversation with a student in a parking lot.
The report concluded that House showed favoritism and had a sexual relationship with a student shortly after graduation, but could not find evidence to support that it was non-consensual. Because of how soon it happened after graduation, the report said House may have groomed her or crossed other boundaries.
The report also found that Miller was aware of the sexual relationship, but did not investigate or report it.
When asked about House, Kirby released a statement saying that the school is taking the allegations very seriously.
A spokesperson for Kirby School said they have not received any reports of misconduct from the teacher's time there, but they hired an investigator to conduct an independent inquiry.
"We are concerned by the recent report produced by Presentation High School that identifies a number of its former employees believed to have engaged in sexual misconduct towards its students. One of the named individuals was subsequently employed as a teacher at Kirby School. Though this individual has not been employed at Kirby School since October 2015, we are deeply committed to our past and present students’ health, safety and well-being, which is why we are taking these allegations very seriously. "While we are not aware of any such misconduct by our former employee, out of an abundance of caution, we have hired an external investigator to conduct an independent inquiry into any potential past incidents of sexual misconduct while this person was an employee at our school. We will be following up with our community after the investigation concludes and will provide a statement then." Kirby School
Officials at Presentation High School said they have shared the report with law enforcement, the San Jose Diocese, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the survivors of abuse and anyone who currently employs one of the people accused, according to the CBS affiliate in the Bay Area.
Read the full report outlining the allegations and independent investigation below.
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Education | Teachers named in San Jose Catholic school sex…
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Education | Teachers named in Presentation High sex investigation kept working as Bay Area educators for years
A damning report found administrators failed to take action in many cases.
A Bay Area News Group review of school websites, public records and interviews revealed former teacher Dave Garbo, who allegedly had a non-consensual sexual encounter with a student shortly after she graduated, worked until recently as an English teacher at Jefferson High School in Daly City.
Another former teacher, Jeff House, accused of grooming two students for relationships and allegedly sexually assaulting one of them at his home when she was a college freshman, works as a private tutor and consultant in San Jose. And former teacher Kris White, who allegedly told a student he loved her, is currently listed as head of school at Fusion Academy’s Palo Alto campus. None of the three men responded to multiple requests for comment.
The allegations are outlined in a 37-page report released Thursday by the school after it hired a Sacramento law firm to investigate misconduct charges that spanned several decades and first came to light during the #MeToo movement. The report found Presentation’s former top administrators Mary Miller and Marian Stuckey were aware of the conduct but failed in most cases to take appropriate action. On Thursday, the school’s entire board of directors announced it was stepping aside in light of the scandal.
In total, the school’s investigation identified five former teachers and one former coach. Allegations against various staff members ranged from “grooming” students for future relationships to sexual interactions with underage girls.
The law firm’s investigators said they found the allegations against the staff members to be substantiated but nothing has been proven in criminal or civil court.
In many cases, the report found, Miller and Stuckey were aware of the allegations , including against White and House. But crucially, they often did not report the behavior to law enforcement, allowing teachers to move to new jobs where they interacted with children.
“If there is even a suspicion of abuse, [educators] are legally mandated to report that activity to the police or to child protective services,” said San Jose attorney Robert Allard, who advised many of the students and alumni who came forward in recent years with stories of abuse. “This report is an effective admission that both Mary Miller and Marion Stuckey failed in those responsibilities, and they should be held liable for abuse that happened not only at Presentation, but if a teacher who they failed to report goes on to abuse elsewhere, they should be liable for it as well.”
Efforts to reach Miller and Stuckey were unsuccessful.
A spokesperson for Presentation told the Bay Area News Group on Friday that the school recently gave the completed report to the current employers of the former staff members named in the investigation, but that she had “no information” on whether the school had made previous attempts to inform the former staff members’ new employers.
Asked how the former staff members were allowed to continue working with children, she did not respond.
White, who taught religion at Presentation from 2001 to 2003, was accused of telling a student he was in love with her and giving her a note saying he was “obsessed” with her, the report said. After learning of the allegations, then-principal Miller placed White on administrative leave, but reinstated him after three months and allowed him to finish the school year.
At the end of the year, she told him that he would not be returning to Presentation. He went on to teach at other Catholic high schools in the Bay Area — including Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda and De La Salle High School in Concord — before becoming head of school at Fusion Academy, which bills itself as a non-traditional school focused on individual students.
Fusion placed White on administrative leave pending further investigation “as soon as we were made aware of the claims against him,” according to Fusion Academy president Jeff Poole.
“While we have no reason to believe any misconduct took place during his tenure at Fusion Academy, the safety and well-being of our students is and will always be our first priority, and we take this report very seriously,” Poole said.
Garbo worked as an English teacher at Presentation from 2006 to 2017. The report said Garbo was accused of having developed an “inappropriate” relationship with a student while she was at Presentation and later engaging in a nonconsensual sexual encounter with her in 2012.
More than a year after she graduated, the student alleged, Garbo bought her drinks, took her to his hotel and engaged in sexual acts with her while she was “too drunk” to consent. Garbo was 38 at the time and the girl was 19. He claimed the encounter was consensual, according to the law firm’s investigation.
In this case, the law firm found, Presentation “responded promptly and appropriately” by notifying police. In November 2017, shortly after learning of the allegation, the school reported the allegation to San Jose Police, filed a Suspected Child Abuse Report and placed Garbo on paid leave. Garbo was never charged with a crime, and San Jose police on Friday evening were not available to explain what happened to the investigation.
The next year, Garbo was hired by Jefferson High School in Daly City, where he also taught English. A school district spokesperson wouldn’t say whether they knew anything about the allegations against Garbo when he was hired. Garbo’s listing was visible in Jefferson High School’s staff directory on Friday morning but disappeared in the afternoon after several Bay Area News Group inquiries.
The spokesperson confirmed that Garbo is no longer employed by the district but declined to comment on the reasons for his departure.
House, an English and journalism professor at Presentation between 1999 and 2004, allegedly sexually assaulted a former student when she saw him during a break from her freshman year in college, the report said. In an email sent to a friend at the time, she “described going to House’s home for dinner, being given alcohol and ‘pot brownies’ and then waking up naked on House’s couch.”
According to the law firm’s investigation, Miller acknowledged she was aware of the student’s experience with House. Miller did not investigate because the student was over 18 at the time and “begged” Miller not to tell anyone. House left Presentation for unrelated reasons, Miller told the law firm’s investigators.
House now teaches writing and conducts seminars on English instruction independently and through the College Board and other California organizations.
The report also contained misconduct allegations against John Fernandez, who taught Spanish and French between 1982 and 2004 and died in 2015; Peggy Orozco, who was a Spanish teacher and substitute English teacher from 1979-1983; and Jenna Roe, who coached water polo between 2011 and 2013.
The San Jose Police Department investigated allegations that Roe had inappropriately touched a student in 2013, but no charges were filed.
The report also lists allegations against six other staff members, who were not named because the law firm said there wasn’t enough evidence or the actions did not meet the definition of sexual misconduct.
Another former Presentation teacher, Jefferey Hicks, was not listed in the report but was accused in a widely publicized 2018 lawsuit of having molested a 15-year-old Presentation student in 2004. After leaving Presentation, Hicks ended up at Stanbridge Academy, a private school for students with special needs in San Mateo County. In 2014, Hicks was convicted of possessing child pornography and exchanging inappropriate messages with a 14-year-old Stanbridge student.
“Having an unbiased, independent organization validate everything we’re saying feels amazing and overwhelming,” said former student Kate Leehane, whose story about the abuse led to the reckoning at the school. “I’m incredibly proud of … the school for doing the right thing and having such a compassionate response, demonstrating accountability and transparency. The last three years have been very very hard, and it’s wonderful to be validated in this way.”
Staff Writer Emily DeRuy contributed to this report.
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9 named: Investigation Confirms Decades of Sexual Misconduct Allegations at Presentation High
Discussion in ' News Feeds for Arrested Teacher Reports ' started by News Readers , Jul 9, 2020 .
News Readers The Paperboy
7 former teachers named: John Fernandez (deceased), foreign Spanish & French language teacher Dave Garbo, former English teacher, now English teacher at Jefferson High School in Daly City Kristopher White, former religion teacher, later taught at other schools including Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda and De La Salle High School in Concord, now head of school at Fusion Academy’s Palo Alto Jeff House, former English & journalism teacher, now a private tutor and consultant in San Jose Peggy Orozco, Spanish teacher and substitute English teacher from 1979-1983 Jenna Roe, coached water polo between 2011-2013 Jefferey Michael Hicks, subject of 2018 lawsuit regarding the molestation of a 15-year-old Presentation student in 2004, later taught at Stanbridge Academy, a private school in San Mateo County, convicted in 2014 of possessing child pornography and exchanging inappropriate messages with a 14-year-old Stanbridge student 2 administrators named for mishandling abuse allegations: Mary Miller, former principal Marian Stuckey, former principal Jeff House, Jenna Roe, Kristopher White Jefferey Michael Hicks Mary Miller Marion Stuckey San Jose Catholic school releases sex abuse report, apologizes ‘with heavy hearts’ Nearly three years after a former student exposed sex abuse complaints dating back decades at San Jose’s Presentation High School for girls, its leaders released a damning outside investigation Thursday that found administrators failed to seriously pursue credible allegations against six former staffers. Investigators the school hired in September found sufficient information “to form a good faith belief that sexual misconduct or abuse occurred by five former faculty members and one former coach” for conduct that took place from the early 1980s to 2013, the school’s president and board chair said in a statement. “It is with heavy hearts that ...
Attached Files:
Report of independent investigation claims of sexual misconduct presentation high school.pdf.
San Jose Catholic school releases sex abuse report, apologizes ‘with heavy hearts’ Nearly three years after a former student exposed sex abuse complaints dating back decades at San Jose’s Presentation High School for girls, its leaders released a damning outside investigation Thursday that found administrators failed to seriously pursue credible allegations against six former staffers. Investigators the school hired in September found sufficient information “to form a good faith belief that sexual misconduct or abuse occurred by five former faculty members and one former coach” for conduct that took place from the early 1980s to 2013, the school’s president and board chair said in a statement. “It is with heavy hearts that ...
Investigation Confirms Decades of Sexual Misconduct Allegations at Presentation High Nearly three years after an explosive op-ed in the Washington Post during the height of the “Me Too” movement snowballed into an avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations at San Jose’s Presentation High School, a prestigious all-girls Catholic school, a months-long independent investigation “sustained allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse” against six former staffers and found school officials at times failed to report allegations of abuse to authorities and inappropriately retained teachers accused of misconduct. The report found the abuse occurred over a span of decades, from the early 1980's through 2013, although it did not delve into a 2004 allegation ...
Teachers named in Presentation High sex investigation kept working as Bay Area educators for years At least three former faculty members named this week in a scathing report on sexual misconduct and abuse at San Jose’s Presentation High School appeared to still be working as educators in the Bay Area, raising questions about whether the prestigious Catholic girls school did anything to notify potential future employers about allegations against them. A Bay Area News Group review of school websites, public records and interviews revealed former teacher Dave Garbo, who allegedly had a non-consensual sexual encounter with a student shortly after she graduated, worked until recently as an English teacher at Jefferson High School in Daly ...
TMP Himself
From: https://oregonapsi.com/english-literature-jeff-house/ English Literature – Jeff House I’ve taught for 35 years in public schools around California in suburban and small town settings. I have a BA in journalism and an MA in English Literature, taking most of my coursework at San Jose State University. I’ve experimented with teaching environments, having taught learning disabled, mainstream, and honors students in traditional and interdepartmental courses. My studies over the last decade in mythology, American culture, and writing led to published articles in English Journal, the Journal of American Culture, Classroom Notes and other periodicals. I’ve been an AP reader and a lecturer for two decades, conducting seminars in new and experienced AP Lit, Vertical Teams, pre-AP skills, and Lit/Lang combinations. My travels have taken me across the nation from Hawaii and Alaska to the Western states and cities in the Midwest. In 2006 I published Writing is Dialogue: Why Our Students Write Backwards and How We can Fix Them, a writing text drawn from classroom experiences and aimed at encouraging more varied writing programs in secondary schools. In 2012 I published Below the Moon: The Study of Literature through Archetypes, a cultural examination of the ways archetypes can make analysis more accessible for students. The recipient of several NEH grants, I’ve traveled across the continent a few times in the study of African-American literature; early eighteenth-century American and British lit; the Renaissance; Medieval Germanic epics; and Shakespeare. Finally, in addition to College Board, I’ve lectured for the California Association of Teachers of English, the California Association for Independent Schools, and the San Diego-based AVID. I’m a consultant for the San Jose Area Writing Project. I also lecture and consult privately with schools and districts. Participants should feel free to contact me at [email protected] if they have any questions in advance. English Literature This seminar focuses on developing those skills that characterize the critical thinking requirements of the AP program. To that end, we will discuss how inductive and analytic skills can enhance instruction and provide a foundation for a sequentially ordered, skills-based program. Lectures will explain how to apply inductive thinking to create a full English program, with an emphasis on incorporating varied kinds of research, several approaches to analysis, and writing experiences that go far beyond the five-paragraph essay. By week’s end, participants will have acquired a range of methodologies and philosophies they can take back to their classrooms; additionally, participants will learn ways to develop a department-wide strategies program.
From: https://webcache.googleusercontent....cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d Kristopher White Head of School As Head of School, Dr. Kristopher White oversees all academic and business functions at the Palo Alto campus. He holds undergraduate degrees in Politics and Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and he has Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Educational Leadership from the University of San Francisco. Dr. White was a classroom teacher for ten years, and he has been a high school and middle school administrator since 2007. He was also a professor of education at the University of San Francisco for nine years where he trained teachers working toward their teaching credential. Dr. White enjoys history, politics, old movies, and spending time with his wife and son.
From: https://twitter.com/jennaroe Jenna Roe @JennaRoe Graduate of Indiana University | Division 1 Student-Athlete - Water Polo | Bracket Computing | University Relations Recruiter & Culture-ist California Joined March 2009 0 Following 48 Followers
Kirby investigates former teacher accused of misconduct at another school The former Kirby teacher, Jeff House, is alleged to have groomed two students at Presentation High School, a private all-girls school in San Jose. He is alleged to have sexually assaulted one of ...
Private Santa Cruz school investigates former English teacher accused of sexual misconduct at San Jose school The former Kirby teacher, Jeff House, is alleged to have groomed two students at Presentation High School, a private all-girls school in San Jose. He is alleged to have sexually assaulted one of ...
Their new schools knew nothing about allegations against these teachers. Should they have? Kathryn Leehane wasn’t surprised to discover that former Presentation High teachers, named last week in a bombshell report that exposed years of sexual misconduct and coverups at the San Jose Catholic girls school, were still teaching in the Bay Area. She had suffered through her own experience of being sexually abused by a teacher at the prominent school when she was a student in the 1990s. And over the weekend, screenshots and tips popped up in her phone. They traced how another teacher, accused in the report of a non-consensual sexual encounter with a former student, had left Presentation for ...
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Investigation Confirms Decades Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations At Presentation High Jenna Roe Prese
Investigation Confirms Decades of Sexual Misconduct Allegations at Presentation High
The law firm’s probe, which began in September of last year, included interviews with 75 individuals, “including administrators, faculty, staff, former students, Board Members, and other members of the Pres Community,” as well as a review of hundreds of pages of documents that were provided by the school and witnesses, according to the report.
“None of the individuals the investigators named in the report are currently employed at Presentation,” the school’s letter stated. “Investigators received sufficient information to form a good faith belief that sexual misconduct or abuse occurred by five former faculty members and one former coach for conduct that took place from the early 1990’s to 2013.
Among those six names were five previously known to NBC Bay Area and one new name. NBC Bay Area has reported on four of them but was unable to corroborate accusations against the fifth.
NBC Bay area was unable to reach any of the teachers named in the report late Thursday, but investigators said none cooperated with the probe.
John Fernandez
The first among the six former staffers named in the report is former Spanish and French teacher John Fernandez, who taught at the school between 1982 and 2004, and died of cancer in 2015.
Investigators say they learned of sexual misconduct allegations involving Fernandez and 14 separate Presentation High School students, including Kathryn Leehane, who said Ferandez showed her a pornographic photo and touched her inappropriately while alone with her in his classroom in the early 1990’s.
A classmate of Leehane’s, who has not publicly discussed her allegations, also reported being sexually assaulted by Fernandez during a school trip that was chaperoned by the teacher in 1990.
The report concluded Fernandez engaged in “inappropriate and unwanted sexual conduct” and found that several staff members, including Miller and Stuckey, were aware of some of Fernandez’s conduct but never reported it to authorities or acted against the teacher.
“There is no indication that Pres reported any of Fernandez’s conduct to CPS or law enforcement,” the report stated.
In fact, after school leaders were aware of Fernandez’s alleged conduct, he was awarded Teacher of the Year in the mid-1990’s and continued teaching at the school until 2004.
Peggy Orozco
Orozco was a name previously mentioned by a source to NBC Bay Area, but this news organization was unable to confirm the allegations and never named the teacher in any reporting.
However, investigators concluded the teacher had inappropriate relationships with at least three students between 1980 and 1981 and engaged in sexual misconduct with at least one of them. The report found that rumors concerning Orozco swirled around the school, but there was no evidence school officials knew about the misconduct.
“One student reported concerns about Orozco to Miller in the 1990’s but did not specifically identify Orozco or the nature of the concerns,” the report stated.
Investigators found that former English and Journalism teacher Jeff House, who taught at the school between 1999 and 2004, had a sexual relationship with a student shortly after she graduated from Presentation.
“At a minimum, House likely engaged in grooming or other boundary-crossing conduct,” the reported stated, noting the proximity in time between the student’s graduation and the sexual encounter.
Investigators found that Mary Miller found out about the relationship, but did not conduct any investigation or report the conduct.
The former student who reported the relationship spoke to NBC Bay Area back in 2017. You can read more about that here.
Kris White was a religion teacher at Presentation between 2001 and 2003. In 2002, the investigation found White called a student into his office and “made romantic overtures towards her.”
He also gave the student a note, reviewed by investigators, telling the student “I’m obsessed with you,” “You’re the only reason I get up and go to work in the morning,” and, “I got out on dates but I don’t enjoy them because all I do is think about you.”
Investigators found Miller failed to take appropriate action after learning of White’s conduct.
“While Miller promptly responded to the student’s reported concerns by meeting with the student, her parents, and White, Miller failed to appropriately address the conduct, or take steps to protect the student,” the reported stated. “Rather, Miller put undue pressure on the student by revealing information about White’s personal situation and requesting he be able to continue his employment.”
Miller never reported the conduct to CPS or law enforcement, the report stated.
The allegations against Roe are among the most recent and her accuser’s family remains outraged she was never arrested or prosecuted.
Roe was the school’s Varsity Water Polo Coach between 2011 and 2013 and was 24-years-old when she was accused of sexually assaulting then 14-year-old water polo player Grace Leonis, who spoke to NBC Bay Area in 2018.
Leonis said the coach digitally penetrated her in the back of a car after a water polo meet.
Investigators found there was enough evidence to sustain sexual misconduct allegations against Roe.
“Roe acknowledged to the police she engaged in sexual misconduct towards [Leonis], including sending [Leonis] a picture of her vibrator; possibly telling [Leonis] she loved her, and, physically touching [Leonis] on the knee,” the reported stated.
Dave Garbo was the only former teacher named in the report that was completely new to NBC Bay Area.
The former English teacher, who taught at the school as recently as 2017, was accused of grooming a student while she was at Presentation and having a sexual encounter with the student soon after she graduated.
According to investigators, the former student said in a written statement provided to Miller in late 2017, after Leehane’s op-ed, that Garbo had sexually assaulted her in a hotel room when she was 19-years-old and “too drunk” to consent. Garbo was 38 at the time, according to the report.
In this instance, investigators found Miller responded promptly and reported the incident to police within a week of receiving the notice. By that point, however, Miller’s past conduct was already under scrutiny.
The report also detailed allegations against six other staffers who are not identified by name because investigators concluded their behavior did not meet the definition of sexual misconduct or there was less supporting evidence to back up the claims.
While investigators found plenty to be troubled by, the report also detailed significant steps Presentation High School has taken over the past two years to address the sexual misconduct allegations, which are listed in full here:
• In the fall of 2018, Pres created the Office of Prevention of Student Bullying, Harassment & Abuse (Office), which is modeled after Title IX regulations and best practices. Importantly, its Director delivers reports to the Board of Directors. The Office is charged with facilitating efforts to prevent student bullying, harassment, and abuse; responding to current students, parents, faculty, and staff who report concerns related to student bullying, harassment, and abuse; conducting outreach to students, teachers, staff, and parents to prevent student bullying, harassment, and abuse; and, training students, faculty, and staff on the prevention of student bullying, harassment, and abuse, including mandatory reporting obligations.
• Also in the fall of 2018, Pres launched a new app-based reporting program, which allows students to easily report any concerns. According to the STOPit website, “STOPit provides simple, fast, and powerful anonymous reporting via the STOPit Mobile App, Web & Hotline. STOPit Messenger enables anonymous, 2-way dialogue between administrators and reporters in real-time—course correcting issues before they turn into emergencies.”
• Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, Pres implemented more frequent and robust mandatory reporting training for all staff, which is annual and on-going. The curriculum includes training on the warning signs of abuse. Pres also added two additional student safety trainings in the 2018-2019 school year. In 2019, Pres conducted staff training regarding child abuse, which covered the different types of child abuse and mandated reporting requirements. On May 13, 2019, Pres also conducted Mandated Reporter and Professional Boundaries/Conduct Training.
• Pres implemented new policies and procedures around bullying, harassment, and abuse, and boundaries related to faculty- and staff-student relationships. Pres’ website includes the “Faculty Policies Relating to Students,” which include sections on “Professional Responsibilities,” “Boundaries (Faculty/Staff-Student Relationships), and “Overnight Chaperone Responsibilities.” Some key features of these new policies and procedures include an emphasis on the need to maintain professional boundaries with any current students, former students under the age of 21, and applicants for admission. As examples, the new policies expressly prohibit communicating with students on any issues other than those serving an educational purpose; socializing with students outside of school or outside of a school activity without a parent or guardian present; and, sharing or inquiring about “overly personal details of a student’s private relationships.”
• Pres has updated the school’s Student Wellness Program to include student safety, focusing on healthy relationships, dating and how to spot abuse. Pres’ Student Wellness Program webpage states, “Pres is proud to partner with One Love Foundation to bring their relationship abuse curriculum to our students and parents.” One Love Foundation “educates young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering them to identify and avoid abuse and learn how to love better.”
• Pres has made significant changes to its governance, including hiring a new President and making changes to the Board to address perceptions of conflicts of interest or any perception of influence which may flow from a personal relationship. Many faculty members, staff members, and alum expressed support of Pres’ new leadership. Elkins has had one-on-one meetings with alumna, Board Members, employees, and others in the community to listen to community concerns and suggestions. Elkins expressed her deep commitment to addressing, correcting and preventing sexual harassment.
• Pres hired General Counsel to provide legal advice and guidance. Previously, Pres did not have a formal general counsel to advise it on personnel and compliance issues, including how to respond to complaints regarding sexual misconduct.
• Pres became a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), a nonprofit organization that provides research and trend analysis, leadership and governance guidance, and professional development opportunities for school and Board leaders.
• In September 2019, Pres initiated this investigation, and charged “a thorough and impartial investigation into any reports of sexual abuse or misconduct by any Pres employee against any student throughout the history of the school.”
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Investigators say they learned of sexual misconduct allegations involving Fernandez and 14 separate Presentation High School students, including Kathryn Leehane, who said Ferandez showed her a ...
In March of last year, Grace Leonis told NBC Bay Area she was just 14, a freshman at Presentation High School, when her 24-year-old coach, Jenna Roe, sexually assaulted her during a water polo ...
Reports to Presentation about Coach Jenna Roe. In Leonis's case, NBC Bay Area has learned three students, including a varsity water polo player named Maya, say they went to athletic director ...
Five years ago, the San Jose mom says 24-year-old Pres water polo coach Jenna Roe molested 14-year-old Grace Leonis. SJPD investigated the incident twice—once after it happened in 2014, and again in 2018 after an NBC Bay Area report shed light on the decades of alleged misconduct at Pres. ... Presentation High School Official Accused of ...
Jenna Roe: a Junior Varsity Assistant Water Polo Coach between 2011 and 2013; The report also identifies an additional six individuals simply referred to as "Staff Members." Download: Report of Independent Investigation—Claims of Sexual Misconduct (Presentation High School)
On September 23, 2019, Presentation High School (Pres) retained Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation (Firm) to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Pres notified the community of the investigation by letter on September 26, 2019.
Prestigious all-girl Presentation High School in San Jose has been embroiled in the allegations of abuse by teachers for several years, with some former students claiming incidents of abuse dating ...
Jenna Roe, Assistant Varsity Water Polo Coach; Dave Garbo, English teacher; None of the people accused currently works at Presentation High School. One of the accused, Jeff House, worked for Kirby School in Santa Cruz after his time at Presentation High School. House is facing allegations of inappropriate grooming and non-consensual sexual ...
UPDATED: July 17, 2020 at 11:47 a.m. At least three former faculty members named this week in a scathing report on sexual misconduct and abuse at San Jose's Presentation High School appeared to ...
Jenna Roe, coached water polo between 2011-2013; ... least three former faculty members named this week in a scathing report on sexual misconduct and abuse at San Jose's Presentation High School appeared to still be working as educators in the Bay Area, raising questions about whether the prestigious Catholic girls school did anything to ...
Friends say they reported sexting and an inappropriate relationship to the school, but police were never notified Grace Leonis arrived as a freshman at San Jose's Presentation High School feeling like a fish out of water. A standout swimmer, her prowess in the pool got her to the Catholic school for girls, where tuition runs $20,000 a year.
Jenna works(ed) at Presentation High School, She She Shoes. Movies Jenna likes include Love & Basketball, Crazy, Stupid. TV shows Jenna likes include New Girl, The Bachelorette, K and K Take. One of Jenna's favorite quotes is:""a wise girl kisses but doesnt love, listens but doesnt believe and leaves before she is left."
Jenna Roe. Class: Senior. Hometown: Campbell, Calif. High School: Presentation College Prep. Last College: Foothill College. Height: 5-6. Position: Center. 2011 (Senior): Competed in 23 games during her senior season ... recorded six goals, two assists, four steals, and 10 earned exclusions on the year ... racked up a career-high three goals ...
Grace Leonis, 14, said get begun out as an unscheduled crush on auf water polo coach at Presentation High School anytime spiraled completely out of tax, culminating in an unwanted erotic experience in the back of her coach's car. Her story marks one bulk recent example of what more than adenine dozen former students assume is a pattern of covering up reports of sexual abuse at the school ...
Investigation Confirms Decades Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations At Presentation High Jenna Roe Prese. ... "None of the individuals the investigators named in the report are currently employed at Presentation," the school's letter stated. "Investigators received sufficient information to form a good faith belief that sexual misconduct or ...
Jenna Roe, LPC, RPT-S. I have had a passion for children and adolescents for over 20 years. I have always enjoyed being around kids and especially found that I felt the best when being supportive. My journey began as a mentor with children in the foster care system and then I proceeded to work with teenagers that had been expelled, suspended or ...
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Tatarsk serves as the administrative center of Tatarsky District, [1] even though it is not a part of it. [2] As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the Town of Tatarsk [2] —an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. [citation needed] As a municipal division, Tatarsk is incorporated within ...
Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the south of the West Siberian Plain, at the foothills of low Salair ridge, between the Ob and Irtysh Rivers.The oblast borders Omsk Oblast in the west, Kazakhstan (Pavlodar Province) in the southwest, Tomsk Oblast in the north, Kemerovo Oblast in the east, and Altai Krai in the south. The territory of the oblast extends for more than 600 kilometers (370 mi ...
Grace Leonis arrived as a freshman at San Jose's Presentation High School feeling like a fish out of water. A standout swimmer, her prowess in the pool got her to the Catholic school for girls, where tuition runs $20,000 a year. ... Reports to Presentation about Coach Jenna Roe In Leonis's case, NBC Bay Area has learned three students ...
What to Expect Today. In the early 1960s, the population of Novosibirsk finally reached one million, making it something of a record-breaker, since it was the youngest city in existence to have a population of that size. Nowadays, more than 1.5 million people call Novosibirsk their home. Tourists coming here will find plenty of places where ...
Flight route: 1,927.35 mi (3,101.78 km) (4h 8min) The flight distance between the nearest airports St-Petersburg and Novosibirsk is 1,927.35 mi (3,101.78 km).This corresponds to an approximate flight time of 4h 8min. Similar flight routes: LED → KJA, LED → KGF, LED → TSE, LED → URC, HEL → OVB Bearing: 99.85° (E)