Accused teachers continued as educators
Presentation High report found administrators failed to take action in many cases
At least three former faculty members named last 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 that former teacher Dave Garbo, accused of having a nonconsensual 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 of 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 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 Presentation after it hired a Sacramento law firm to investigate misconduct charges that spanned several decades and came to light during the #Metoo movement. The report found that 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 trustees 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 Marian 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. White 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 nontraditional school focused on individual students.
Fusion did not respond to requests for comment.
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.
Less than two years 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 it 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 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 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 from 1999 to 2004, is accused of sexually assaulting 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 older than 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 contains misconduct allegations against John Fernandez, who taught Spanish and French from 1982 to 2004 and died in 2015; Peggy Orozco, who was a Spanish teacher and substitute English teacher from 1979 to 1983; and Jenna Roe, who coached water polo from 2011 to 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-yearold 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.
The report noted Presentation has implemented new policies around harassment and abuse, as well as more mandatory reporting training for all staff. Building names honoring former administrators Miller and Stuckey will be removed.
“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.”