April 20, 2006

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Former Leland student files lawsuit against
San Jose Unified School District

Girl was molested by Leland Chemistry teacher who
allegedly had a reputation for inappropriate behavior

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

A 19-year-old former Leland High School student has filed a civil lawsuit against the San Jose Unified School District alleging that the school and district administration were aware of allegations of inappropriate behavior from a former chemistry teacher but did nothing about it.

The girl, who is now a college student, is believed to be one of the last victims of the teacher, Earl Roske, who is serving time in state prison. Roske is due to be released next year.

Earl Roske

The lawsuit alleges that between November 2003 and May 2005 Roske asked the student personal questions about her sex life, asked her to send explicit photographs of herself by e-mail and touched her inappropriately. The plaintiff is seeking damages for emotional distress, the amount of which will be determined by the court. She is the only victim, so far, to sue the school district regarding the case.

“It’s shameful,” said the plaintiff’s San Jose attorney, Robert Bohn. “This teacher was in a position of authority. As soon as they had the first letter in 2002 regarding this teacher they should have moved on this problem.”

According to police records Leland administrators received anonymous letters about Roske’s behavior in 2002 and 2004. Roske was arrested May 6, 2005 and arraigned May 9 on seven felony charges for allegedly committing various sex crimes against minors including one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, two counts of oral copulation with a minor, two counts of using a minor to produce child pornography and two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor.

He pled guilty to all of the charges except the charge of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He received a two year, eight month sentence.

Bohn said the victims were all 16 or 17 years old and Roske “seemed to pick out girls that had problems with his class and then he offered to tutor them in his class on the weekends and on holidays, which is when many of the assaults took place. He would start out by e-mailing them, and then he started sending sexually suggestive pictures of himself and eventually asked them to do the same. Some of the victims were abused in his classroom. I know from working on other cases that there are very serious long-term emotional problems that these young women will have to deal with from this abuse.”

Karen Fuqua, a spokesperson for the San Jose Unified School District, said the district’s attorneys were reviewing the documents and had no further comment on the lawsuit.

The Geography Bee

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again

By Pavitra Rengarajan
Special to the Times

Thump! Thump! Thump! My heart was beating very fast. Traveling in our silver van, I saw the sign, “Welcome to Sacramento.” Quick! Grab the atlas! I had one more night before the real thing would take place, the state level of the National Geography Bee.

The socials on Thursday, March 30 at 7 p.m. were enjoyable for the parents and the competitors. With cookies and punch whenever we wanted, we made many new friends and felt more relaxed for the next day to come.

After a good rest and a hearty breakfast, we made our way to the Geography Bee, which was held at the Cosumnes River College, near Sacramento. As we entered, we were welcomed with juice and bagels. We got a better understanding of our other fellow competitors because of the charts and maps on the wall: you were expected to put a sticker for your grade, where you were from, and where you would like to go. Then we searched for some good seats in the crowded hall.

Steve Cunha called the attention of the restless crowd. Believe it or not, there were five million kids in the whole nation who competed in the bee, and we were one of the top 103 kids in California. And if it rained that day, California would break its record for the most rainy days in March. Now that should go in the Guinness Book of World Records!

There were actually 103 kids who competed because of a three-way tie for last place. There was no easy way to eliminate two of them; as Cunha joked, perhaps we could send them quail hunting with [Vice President] Cheney to decide!

For the preliminary rounds, we were tested on the different subcategories within geography. We were broken up into groups of 20 and taken to separate rooms. Only those who answered all the eight questions correctly could go on to the finals. Unlucky for me, I missed a question during the seventh round. Close, but no cigar! Just that one question had cost me so much!

Being tension-free and watching the finals take place was enjoyable. I sat through the tiebreaker round, knowing every single one of the five questions asked. Ironically, my knowledge of geography made me feel worse. I could have definitely made it to the top 10 if I hadn't missed that one question! Oh, well…there’s always a next year. In fact, for me, I have two more years to make it to the top.

Once the top 10 were determined, there was a series of about 25 rounds that took place in order to determine the champion. The questions started easy and gradually became harder. In the end, the winner was the eighth grader Ryland Lu, who won second place in 2005 and first place in 2004. Many of the contestants got each other’s phone numbers, so we could keep in contact with each other.

After the annual event, we had a delicious and tasty lunch at Panera Bread and continued on our way home. Even though I didn’t win this time, I have another chance. Why else would we have the saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”?

Pavitra Rengarajan is a student at the Challenger School in Almaden.