May 12, 2005


Sex scandal strikes Leland High School

Chemistry teacher accused of having sex with two female students

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Prestigious Leland High School, just recovering from several tragedies last year, now finds itself reeling from a sex scandal that alleges one of its teachers had sexual relations with two female students.

And, the administration at Leland and the San Jose Unified School District faces a credibility problem with a large segment of parents and students who feel the school should have placed the teacher, who had been nicknamed the “rapist” by some students, on leave rather than allowing him to continue teaching despite being the subject of a criminal investigation as early as last May.

San Jose police arrested Earl Thomas Roske May 6, at about 1:30 p.m., at his San Tomas Aquino Road residence on several sex charges involving the students. He had an outstanding $1 million warrant for his arrest.

The 41-year-old Roske, who had taught at the school since 1998, was charged with one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, 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. The seven charges all constitute felony offenses.

Roske’s attorney, Christopher Schumb, did not return several phone calls by press time.

San Jose police Det. Robert Dillon, with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force/Child Exploitation Unit, began an investigation after a friend of one of the alleged victims notified police of inappropriate sexual activity.

It’s not clear whether the girls are still attending Leland or if they have already graduated and police are refusing to say.

The investigation revealed enough evidence for police to say Roske had a sexual relationship with the alleged victims; that he used a Web camera to send sexually explicit images of himself to the alleged victims; that he had the alleged victims produce pornographic images of themselves; and that he took sexually explicit photographs of them in his chemistry classroom.

San Jose police arrested Earl Thomas Roske May 6.

Roske, who came to Leland after teaching in Washington state, was booked into Santa Clara County Jail.

Detectives believe there may be additional victims, some who attended the school as far back as three years ago.

Victims’ advocates say many may not come forward to assist the police because they fear embarrassment, retaliation by the perpetrator and consequences of revealing the sex crimes.

Dillon said Roske was the subject of a previous investigation in May of 2004, which failed to produce concrete evidence to charge him with wrongdoing. That investigation was sparked by an anonymous complaint about Roske having inappropriate conversations with students.

The investigation leading up to his arrest began four months later, in September of 2004, and was ongoing until last week when police arrested him on April 29 with the help of a search warrant which allowed them to search his person, his classroom, his home and his vehicle.

Dillon would not reveal the exact content of the evidence, but said the pornographic images of the alleged victims and Roske were sent to each other through the Internet, as he was known for providing his instant-messaging account to his students. “We’re trying to find out if these images were sent to others,” Dillon said, noting that the disposal of pornographic images of minors—under the age of 18—over the Internet is a felony.

On May 2, San Jose Unified School District administrators immediately placed Roske on paid-administrative leave, which became leave without pay after he was arrested.

San Jose police spokesman Enrique Garcia said detectives found enough evidence to link Roske to the alleged crimes. He said the alleged crimes are said to have occurred before September of 2004.

“It’s been going on for some time. He manipulated these children. This didn’t happen overnight. He’s a sexual predator. He developed a bond with the children and over time that bond built to the point where he had their trust which was exploited by having them do things that the average person won’t do,” Garcia said. “He got them to commit sex acts with him. He got them to do things at his request like taking photographs of themselves in a sexually explicit manner giving him the images or photographs. He was also doing sexually explicit things in front of his computer with the Web-cam and then he would transmit those images to the girls while they’re doing it on the computer.”

Garcia said he also had taken sexually explicit photos of the students in the classroom. “It’s pretty incredible that he was so bold to do that. He groomed them and got them to do things on themselves or to him at his request. They were doing it because of the way he psychologically manipulated them,” he said.

Police detectives are stressing that it’s never the victims’ fault when sex crimes are committed against them. Young victims like the students are easy to manipulate and sex predators know how to do that, he said. “We don’t want parents to place blame on children who have been victimized,” Garcia said. “I wish there was some sort of requirement at the schools that … could put [a teacher] on administrative leave when they’re being investigated.”

School’s response
Leland High School Principal Robert Setterlund sent a letter to parents May 6 letting them know that Roske was on administrative leave and that he had been replaced with substitute chemistry teacher Jorge Sitkevich.

In the letter, Setterlund said Sitkevich is highly qualified. He then said Roske’s situation is a “personnel matter and must be treated with confidentiality” and that the district’s human resources department would be contacting the school as soon as the issue was resolved.

“I apologize for the disruption this causes your student in chemistry this last month of the school year. Know that we will do everything possible to support the substitute teacher and Leland chemistry students,” Setterlund wrote.

To the Almaden Times Weekly, Setterlund offered the following statement during a telephone interview: “I can’t say more about Mr. Roske and his situation. It’s legal and it’s a personnel matter, although I would like to explode with things to say, I can’t until they tell me that it’s resolved. I’m sure we’re probably all going to testify at some time regarding this,” he said.

Setterlund said he has received a couple of dozen phone calls from parents concerned about the charges, Roske’s arrest, student well being and the continuation of the school’s chemistry program. He said he personally visited each of Roske’s six classes on Monday to apologize and to offer them help from a district counselor. During some of the visits Clifford Mitchell, assistant principal of instruction at Leland High, accompanied Setterlund.

“I have been gratified by the response of the Leland staff. We’re pulling together because we know that this is a quality place and we’re going to finish this school year strong,” Setterlund said.

SJUSD spokeswoman Karen Fuqua said the district was shocked by the accusations and is cooperating with the police investigation. “We’re terribly appalled by the charges because the safety and the security of our students comes number one,” she said. “We’re so saddened for these victims. It’s a horrible atrocity, but once again, he’s innocent until proven guilty.”

Leland High School art teacher and chairwoman of the school’s electives program, Debbie Imerson, said in an e-mail that her colleagues are shocked and disappointed by the news.

“Leland is coping in the most positive way possible. We know that this will be a hard week for some of us in administration, in the classroom, and in the office. Most of all it will be difficult for some of the students and this is the part that just makes it so upsetting to teachers that are working hard to positively influence students,” said Imerson, who also represents Leland teachers on the San Jose Teachers Association.

Imerson has moved beyond her initial shock and disappointment to anger at how someone could take advantage of students, if the allegations are true.

“This is an emotion that will not find its way into my teaching. The way we are coping is to continue to work together as a devoted, excellent staff of professionals. The way I personally will cope is to continue to provide a safe effective environment for my students,” Imerson added. “As teachers we have taken the stance that we owe it to our school to not comment on this in front of students, no matter how tempting. We have not achieved so many awards without being an excellent staff of professionals and we believe that now is the time to show what we’re made of.”

Imerson continued: “We’re looking forward to a strong finish to the year for all of our students. Our job is to teach, guide, and protect students. We take this responsibility very seriously. There is not room in our profession for those who abuse their role and their students.”

Leland High School Parents’ Club President Charles Tate said the group’s number-one priority is student safety.
“We are saddened and disappointed that a member of the faculty may be involved in violating the law and the trust necessary to ensure a safe environment,” Tate wrote in an e-mail. “Leland parents look forward to building on their strong relationship with our school administration and community to guarantee that student safety is paramount across the campus and throughout the program.”

Community reaction
Friday evening the news of Roske’s arrest sent shock waves through this affluent community.

According to parents, many students were distraught when they saw Roske being handcuffed on television. It was hard to see their teacher pictured in a mug shot. Many said a trust had been violated. Some broke into sobs.

Some expected it. Some blamed the victims. Others blamed Roske. Others vomited, upset and disgusted by the allegations.

The questions Monday morning on the campus were whether the allegations could be true. Some wondered if Roske is guilty, then could he have been stopped sooner to spare the alleged victims the one of the most heinous crimes adults can commit against children.

“We all trusted him… It’s going to be tough to trust teachers in that kind of way in the future,” said Leland High School sophomore Jenna Salah, 15, who took an honors chemistry class from him.

Jenna claims Roske touched her shoulders and back and would lean over her a lot during class time. She said Roske also behaved this way around other girls. “It made me really uncomfortable.”

She also said a sleazy reputation preceded Roske who was referred to as “the rapist” by some students on campus.

Students are angered because the school administration, by law, could not tell them anything other than the fact that it was a personnel matter. “We’re held liable when we make comments on these cases,” said SJUSD spokeswoman Karen Fuqua about why school officials would not tell students that Roske was being investigated last week. “Any school employee can be held liable for saying anything against an employee,” she repeated.

Jenna, like other students, says they avoided going to see Roske after school. When she had to, she would usually take her mother or a friend with her.

Linda Salah, Jenna’s mother, complained to school officials twice about Roske’s behavior. She said there were other prior complaints about the teacher, which Setterlund admitted he knew about.

She said her concerns were eased when Setterlund is said to have spoken to Roske. “I didn’t want to ruin a man’s reputation. I wanted to be careful and be sensitive to him, but after this you have to go with your gut feeling,” she said. “Thank God we were not touched by that perversion.”

For his part, Setterlund said, “I won’t dispute it (parents’ complaints) but I can’t comment on this case or previous allegations because it’s all going to be a part of a trial.”

Some of the allegations back then were that Roske was being too forward with female students. “I tried to brush a lot of things off thinking that I could trust the judgment of our administration,” Linda said, who is a Time-In program coordinator at Bret Harte Middle School for at risk children.

Jenna said she was bothered by the way Roske treated her when the school imposed a new dress code at the beginning of the school year requiring no bare shoulders, no bare midriff and shirts to the level of the collarbone.
She claims Roske, one day, took her to the office and told her the shirt she was wearing was inappropriate.

“He told the class that the dress code should be skirts to the knees and that he didn’t want to see anyone’s grand canyon, referring to cleavage. I thought that was so inappropriate,” Jenna said.

Cover up?
Linda is one of the parents trying to determine when the district discovered Roske had been the subject of similar investigations. “I want to know why the district didn’t do something to remove Roske from the classroom if previous concerns had been raised,” she said. “I’m sickened by the whole thing.”

Linda called SJUSD Assistant Superintendent Rosa Molina Monday to ask her several questions related to Roske.

She’s waiting for a response. If the answers are satisfactory, Linda said she would allow the district to continue to handle the matter. If not, she has threatened to gather as many parents as possible, bringing the media along with her, to demand a change in the way the district handles these cases in the future.

District spokeswoman Karen Fuqua vehemently denied a cover up. “That’s not true,” she said. “The investigation last year revealed nothing at all.”

Fuqua said the district notified the school of the first investigation last year but could not take action because no charges were brought against Roske. She said when teachers are charged and arrested, they’re allowed to teach if they’re proven innocent. If guilty, the state revokes their teaching credentials.

Linda also said Roske told her daughter last fall that he could not be in the classroom alone with her because he was involved in a civil lawsuit. Fuqua said the district is not aware of a civil lawsuit against Roske.

“If he knew of a pending lawsuit against him, why didn’t his employer know about it?” Linda asked. “There are too many unanswered questions. I’m just looking out for the safety of our children. I understand we have to protect the teachers, but there have to be laws to protect our kids.”

‘Rate my teachers’
On the popular teen Web site, www.ratemyteachers.com, a neon-green straight face with dark sunglasses is the icon Roske has earned from student ratings. Several anonymous visitors have rated Roske as “average,” earning a total of 2.9 out of five points possible.

One student wrote: “He really makes you learn the material instead of just handing you the answers like other teachers. Ignore all the stupid rumors. They’re not true!”

Another one writes: “Don’t listen to the stupid rumors that are out there. He’s a cool guy.”

Others, however, warn not to get on his bad side. “Mr. Roske. Let us just say he is …. interesting?” one wrote.

Another student entry could perhaps be the most revealing if the allegations are true. It says simply, “Pretty good teacher, but should watch his relationships with students.”

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call San Jose police detective Robert Dillon of the San Jose Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at (408) 277-4102. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP (7867).