September 15, 2005

Roske sent to state prison

Victims’ mothers share painful consequences of teacher’s sex abuse against daughters

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

The mothers of the victims whose testimony put Earl Thomas Roske behind bars say their daughters have lost trust in people and will never see the world the same way because of the sexual abuse perpetrated by the former Leland High School chemistry teacher.

During a Sept. 8 sentencing hearing before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Ronald T. Lisk, the mothers also said that counselors have told them the sexual abuse will affect them for a lifetime.

Earl Thomas Roske

“I only speak today to express my regret of the impact Earl Roske has had on my daughter’s life,” said one of the mothers before the judge. “She had always been taught to be cautious of strange men’s advances, but I didn’t think to include her male teachers in that category.

“After he serves his sentence he will start fresh and resume his life and for my daughter she will never be able to see the world quite the same,” said one of the mothers. “It saddens me that he knowingly abused his position of power as a teacher … for years he took advantage of his female students—the price he’s paying today is insignificant compared to the grief he has caused to so many.”

Even when Roske, 41, was told to stay away from her daughter, once she was removed from his classroom, he “selfishly continued to see her abusing his position as a teacher figure,” she said. “This taught my daughter to lie and keep secrets—secrets which should not have been kept. Our mother-daughter relationship has been damaged, possibly permanently damaged,” said the mother. “A teacher’s job is to build a child’s confidence, not to cause irreparable damage to their lives which you, Earl Roske, have done.”

Sitting near the defendant’s table in the small and packed courtroom, a handcuffed and shackled Roske never looked up and stared down throughout the proceeding. He was wearing khaki jail pants and orange and black T-shirts. He looked thinner than in earlier court appearances.

Requests ignored?
One of the mothers said she was upset that San Jose Unified School District officials reportedly did not follow up on many requests to prevent Roske from seeing her daughter after she was pulled from his class during her junior year.

“My daughter had to sit as if she had done something wrong in the counselor’s office because I didn’t want her in his classroom because of what had happened. He was told to stay away from her and have no contact,” she said. “But during her senior year he continued seeing her and the relationship pursued. The district didn’t do anything to make sure that my request was followed.”

The mother also said school officials avoided her when she wanted to confront them during her daughter’s senior year after she learned that she had continued to see Roske despite her prohibition to do so. “They took every step they could not to see me,” she said. “I got a lot of push back. They knew, but nobody took the initiative to keep Mr. Roske away from my daughter.”

Roske’s sentence
The judge sentenced Roske to state prison, possibly San Quentin State Prison. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will determine, however, where he will be sent after an assessment is conducted, said Deputy District Attorney Steve Fein.

He will receive credit for 188 days served at the Santa Clara County Jail up until Sept. 8, which will be deducted from his two-year, eight-month sentence. After he’s released from jail, he’ll be on parole for a minimum of three years and he will have to immediately register as a sex offender. He will never be allowed to own a firearm or hold a teaching credential.

“He’s branded for the rest of his life,” Judge Lisk told the audience.

An Almaden resident who attended the hearing but who declined to be identified, complained about Roske’s sentence saying it was too light for the crimes he committed. “He should have gotten 10-12 years,” he said. “I think he followed his lawyer’s advice. He knows he got off easy.”

Speaking after the sentencing, detective Robert Dillon, with the San Jose Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said he was glad the victims didn’t have to endure the trial process. “The justice system works the way it’s supposed to. The case is closed for now, but if more victims come forward we will investigate and press additional charges.”

Case background
Roske, accused of having sex with two minor female students, pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to six of seven sex crime charges.

Roske was arrested May 6 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. Fein said additional victims didn’t come forward.

Roske’s attorney, Christopher Schumb, did not speak with reporters after the court proceeding as he’s done in the past.

The San Jose Unified School District turned over Roske’s personnel files to the police under subpoena orders. The files, one kept at the school and one kept at district headquarters, could include several complaints parents allege the school and the district received that went unanswered.

Police reports about Roske’s sex crimes reveal that detectives learned school officials knew as early as August of 2002 of complaints against him.

San Jose police officers began investigating the teacher in April of 2004 when former Leland High School principal Susan Votaw contacted officers working with the School Safety Liaison Unit and alerted them that she had received an anonymous letter that year alleging Roske was having consensual sexual relations with current and former students.

Detectives presented the evidence to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, which could not prosecute the case due to insufficient evidence. During that investigation officers also learned that another anonymous letter had been sent in August of 2002. Those letters are expected to be in his personnel files confiscated by the police.

Sentence reaction
“I would have hoped that he would have apologized for his behavior,” one of the mothers said after the sentencing. “Our mother-daughter relationships have been damaged and there’s no trust there … It’s impacted the girls and they have fallen apart. He opened a door to these girls that they should have never entered until they became older and more mature persons and he shouldn’t have done that. His classroom was out facing the parking lot. You would have never suspected.”

She added, “It’s a shame how Mr. Roske was protected for so long. My son went to Leland several years prior and Mr. Roske had a reputation of being a pervert. When my son found out about what was happening to his sister, he said, ‘That guy is a pervert.’ His behavior apparently went on for years.”

San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman Karen Fuqua maintained the district followed appropriate policy in the way it handled complaints against Roske.

“We have completely done due process with Mr. Roske,” Fuqua said. “Our hearts go out to the girls and their families and if there’s anything that we could have done to stop this we would have, but in light of what we have to do as far as the rights of our teachers, there are procedures we have to follow also. Many of the complaints that came were anonymous and we couldn’t move on them. We brought the police in and they couldn’t move forward on the case … we were not aware of the fact that they had brought it up last September. It was an undercover investigation.”

Fuqua said the staff at Leland High School has received sexual harassment awareness training during staff development day at the beginning of the year and students are working with the Cornerstone Project on empowerment issues. Students at the high school will also receive additional sexual harassment awareness training Oct. 1.

“We need to focus on the positive,” said Fuqua. “Students can move forward. They know that they can come forward with the administration and take a stand. We know that teachers and authority figures can cloud those waters for students easily but we’re empowering our students so they can tell a caring adult or someone else what has happened to them.”

Fuqua added that an anonymous tip hotline was launched at the beginning of the summer where students can call to report concerns related to teacher behavior or any other issue on campus that they consider inappropriate.