Oregon House passes sexual grooming bill following Salem-Keizer Public Schools lawsuit
This story was updated at 4:05 p.m.
The Oregon House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Tuesday that aims to better protect students from sexual grooming in schools.
HB 4160 increases the time, from 90 days to one year after graduating or leaving high school, during which an individual is considered a “student” for laws requiring reporting, investigation and disclosures about a school employee, contractor, agent or volunteer engaging in sexual contact with a student.
Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem, introduced the bill in response to a civil lawsuit brought last fall by two Salem-Keizer Public Schools graduates accusing a music teacher of grooming them while they were students.
“This is not a hypothetical situation,” Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Andrea Castañeda told a legislative committee earlier this month. “We’re sitting here in front of you today because of a very real situation, which exposed the loophole that we’re discussing here and the systematic way that it can be exploited.”
No one testified against the bill, which now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Lawsuit asks former McNary instructor, Salem-Keizer district for $10M
Last September, two former McNary High School students filed a $10 million lawsuit against Joshua Rist, a former McNary choir teacher, alleging he groomed and sexually abused them between 2015 and 2020. The lawsuit also names the school district, alleging it failed to protect them from the teacher.
The district had placed Rist on paid administrative leave more than two years earlier, on May 28, 2021, following similar allegations.
In June 2021, district officials sent a formal misconduct report to the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. TSPC also received an Oregon Department of Human Services report alleging the same misconduct. The Keizer Police Department also investigated.
Rist returned from leave on Aug. 18, 2022, and was moved from McNary to Kalapuya Elementary School. He was again placed on paid administrative leave Feb. 9, 2023.
On June 8, 2023, Rist and TSPC signed a stipulation of facts, meaning Rist agreed that evidence would support the commission's findings that Rist established inappropriate personal relationships with the two women while they were students at McNary.
TSPC concluded Rist had engaged in gross neglect of duty.
Rist returned to Kalapuya at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year but was again put on leave on Oct. 2, after the district received an additional complaint about him from a former McNary High School student.
Rist remains on paid administrative leave. An investigation into the additional complaint still is ongoing, district officials said.
Oregon's sexual grooming bill
Currently, if an educator engages in suspected sexual conduct with a former student starting on the 91st day after the student has left school, the conduct is not required to be reported, and it can’t form the basis for teacher discipline.
The bill would extend the period to report to one year. It would take effect July 1, 2024.
“Some offenders will develop relationships with youth and groom them with the intention of further exploiting them once they graduate or leave the school,” said Debbi Joa, prevention and protection coordinator and human resources manager for Salem-Keizer Public Schools.
“Exploitation by an educator, someone they trust and look up to, can have devastating and lifelong effects on students,” Joa said.
The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification recently passed model legislation that would prevent sexual conduct by educators for two years after a student graduates. The professional organization represents state education departments and licensing boards.
"I am particularly pleased with this piece of legislation because it reflects something brought to me by our Salem-Keizer schools superintendent and I was pleased to respond promptly to their request to change the law so that we can more effectively protect our students from potential predatory conduct," Mannix said Tuesday.
"There are such folks out there and we do need to enhance the protections against them," he said.
Tracy Loew covers education at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon House passes sexual grooming bill
