Oregon teacher accused of sexual misconduct that school district was ‘fully aware’ of
Editor’s note: This story shares details of child sexual abuse that may be disturbing to readers.
PORTLAND, ore. (KOIN) — Alumni of an Oregon school district claim a former teacher sexually harassed them because other faculty members were “fully aware” of the misconduct.
Cascades School District teacher Etta Archer Gross was accused of having sexual relations with several of her students in a $10.5 million lawsuit filed Wednesday. The district was also accused of allowing the behavior to continue.
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Court documents alleged that Gross harassed one of the plaintiffs for two years while she was his student in high school and then as his teacher’s aide. The other male plaintiff was a middle school student, but according to the complaint, he was working as his teacher’s aide within the scope of an “alternative program.”
Lawyers claimed that Gross first sexually harassed one of the plaintiffs by saying, “God, I want to put my hands in his pocket,” and then reached into his pants and caressed her. Lawyers for the other plaintiff allege he repeatedly commented on how advanced he was for his age and put his hand up her shirt while teaching students with autism and Down syndrome.
The suit also accuses Gross of “repeatedly making phone calls to Plaintiffs’ family homes, transporting Plaintiffs from school to Gross’s personal apartment, sexually assaulting, beating, and sodomizing students, providing alcoholic beverages to minors, driving Plaintiffs to sports and other events to be alone with them, and wearing their clothing (e.g., numbered school football team jersey) during school days and hours.”
According to Tonna Faxon of TFK Law, the abuse described in the complaint is believed to have started in 2002. The lawyer noted that he heard from another victim who began the abuse in 2001.
CSD Communications Director Gregg Koskela said in a statement that the district was made aware of the lawsuit through an article published earlier this week, but the administration had not received any official documents with specific details as of Wednesday.
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“As this involves ongoing litigation, it is not legally possible for the District to comment on the matter,” Koskela added in the statement. “But what we can reaffirm is our unwavering commitment to student safety.”
The lawsuit alleged that Gross is currently on administrative leave.
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