Scathing report outlines decades of sexual abuse, inadequate response, at Catlin Gabel private school

http://archive.is/QhDSR#selection-1569.76-1569.89

2019

At least nine former teachers and other staffers at Portland private school Catlin Gabel sexually abused, groped or had sex with students in the last four decades, according to a year-long internal investigation commissioned by the school’s board of trustees.

The explosive report https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6574081-Summary-of-Key-Findings-12-10-19.html

listed complaints or allegations of abuse against another 12 former faculty members and coaches that could not be corroborated. The exact number of victims, many now in their 50s and 60s, may never be known.

Students and even teachers who attempted to blow the whistle on the suspected abusers usually saw their complaints go nowhere. That was particularly true in the case of longtime sixth-grade teacher Richardson “Dick” Shoemaker.

“These were little girls for the most part and the perpetrators were grown men,” said Bart Eberwein, a Portland construction executive and chair of the Catlin Gabel board. “The adults were being protected and the girls weren’t. There’s no sugarcoating that.”

Three of the six former teachers and coaches named as abusers in the report were eventually forced out of their jobs, including Shoemaker, who died in 2018. Two of the abusers’ misconduct came to public attention before Wednesday’s report, when longtime teacher Robert “Bob” Ashe was successfully sued in 1995 for sexual assaulting a student from another school on the Catlin campus and when coach Deonte Huff was charged in 2013 with sexual abuse and luring a minor and later convicted. Ashe was forced out in 1995 and died in 2000.

Three other male teachers named in the report, each of whom the investigation found was credibly accused of engaging in sexual activity with a student or students, apparently faced no consequences.

The many, many instances of sexual abuse by so many educators would be shocking at any school. That is particularly true for Catlin, an elite private institution that has served generations of Portlanders.

Tuition is more than $34,000 a year and admission to the 775-student school is competitive. It enjoys a reputation as a solid, progressive institution.

Catlin Gabel’s board of trustees launched the investigation last October after a former student alleged on Facebook that she’d been abused by a Catlin teacher. The board hired Portland lawyer Lori Watson to conduct the probe.

Former students repeatedly told Watson the relationships between some Catlin teachers and students seemed unnaturally close. “Multiple individuals raised concerns about faculty members marrying students after they graduated,” the investigator said in the report. “Some stated that they believed the faculty-student relationships began while the students were still attending Catlin.”

It’s uncertain how complete the report is. Watson only interviewed self-identified victims who came forward to either the school or her. She didn’t engage in more proactive outreach out of concern of traumatizing victims a second time, the report states.

The report identifies just six of the proven or likely perpetrators by name. Watson and the Catlin Gabel administration decided they would identify alleged perpetrators only if there were multiple, credible first-hand accounts of abuse, an admission of guilt or supporting documentary evidence

Named as “employees believed to have engaged in sexual misconduct:”

The article continues and provides a list and details regarding the six: Richardson Shoemaker, Robert Ashe, Mark Petersen, Stephen Richmond, Samuel Crawley, Deonte Huff http://archive.is/QhDSR