Teacher arrested on suspicion of molestation at math camp
SARATOGA >> A high-school teacher has been arrested on suspicion of molesting a 12-year-old girl while he was working at a private math camp over the summer, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
Chad Zitzner, 45, of San Jose, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on a $300,000 arrest warrant for lewd and lascivious acts with a child, the Sheriff’s Office said.
According to investigators, Zitzner, a teacher at Broadway High School in the San Jose Unified School District, met the victim while teaching with Math Enrichment, a private math camp that employs teachers during the summer.
“At some point after the conclusion of the camp, the victim disclosed to her mother that Zitzner had touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions while at camp,” the Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release.
That spurred an investigation by the agency’s Sexual Assault Investigation Unit. Authorities say Zitzner was placed on leave from San Jose Unified in late October once they were notified of the investigation.
“We are really aggressive in protecting the safety of students,” Deputy Superintendent Stephen McMahon said. “He was put on leave within minutes of us finding out about the (Sheriff’s Office) investigation.”
McMahon added that he has gotten no indication that any district stu-
dents were potential victims.
A representative of Math Enrichment declined to comment on Zitzner’s arrest.
Zitzner has been an educator for more than two decades, was a well-regarded basketball and athletics coach at Mountain View High School, and was once named Substitute Teacher of the Year in the Mountain View Los Altos High School District, according to a 2009 article by this news organization. He began working in San Jose Unified in 2004 and has been at Broadway High School since 2015. Prior to working at Broadway, he taught at Community Day School in San Jose. He will not return to teaching in the district unless he is cleared by law enforcement, McMahon said.
Anyone with information about the case can contact Sheriff’s detectives at 408-808-4500 or leave an anonymous tip at 408808-4431.