It CAN happen in your local school

Mar. 9, 2007

They did nothing?

OAK HARBOR, Wash. -- Detectives said they are looking into whether there are more possible victims of a middle school teacher who is accused of fondling a 12-year-old girl.

Police arrested James Pruss, 52, last month on suspicion of touching the girl inappropriately during gym class.

Pruss faces a charge of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. He's on indefinite administrative leave.

"The teacher says it was accidental, incidental, and the investigation is ongoing," said Joe Hart of the Oak Harbor School District.

The victim's mother, Andrea Bridge, said Pruss grabbed and squeezed her daughter's right breast while they were on the basketball court.

"She looked up to teachers and saw them as adults you can trust," Bridge said. "And that's been shattered."

Bridge said she found a stack of complaints against Pruss, accusing him of looking down girls' shirts and touching them in inappropriate places.

The school district acknowledged that there have been dozens of complaints against the teacher.

***So, I would like to know how the police began investigating this case. Did the mother call? Were all the other complaints filed before this case?

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Comments

Jul. 8, 2007 - James Pruss

Posted by a student of his

i currently had Mr.Pruss as a Pe teacher and was not all that shocked to hear that he was caught doing innapropriate things.when i was in his class he said many times that girls should start to work out because its "sexy" to some men.he would encourage us many times and would have the class work out in the weight room.personally i thought it was really weird and to be honest i never really felt comfortable being around him.

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Feb. 4, 2008 - Mr. Pruss

Posted by Anonymous

I am also not surprised to hear that he was finally arrested. I attended Oak Harbor High School where he was my piano lab teacher. I would often catch him staring at my chest and standing too close to me. I started wearing baggy sweaters to that class, but no matter what I never felt comfortable around him. He should be nowhere around children. I'm really disappointed in how North Whidbey Middle School handled that situation. The only place this man belongs is in jail.

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"I sent my daughter to school thinking she was safe," the alleged victim's mother said. "How wrong I was." ************************** "Why are you posting all these articles on this blog?" This is a question I have been asked several times since I began posting these articles. My reason is simple- I am posting these articles in one group so we can be forced to recognize that yes, this is happening. This is happening at an alarming rate. Notice how many articles are posted per day? I am NOT saying if you send your child to public school he will be shot, sexually abused, or any other manner of terrible experience. What I am saying is that there is certainly the risk of this happening. It is time we all began to admit this IS happening. When I began this blog I, like many Americans, was focused on school violence. While school violence is a major problem it is apparent that sexual abuse by teachers is an even bigger problem. Why aren't we discussing this issue? I think it is too hard. No one wants to admit it is happening at an alarming rate. But, it does exist... whether we want to admit it or not. ************************ Something to think about, if there were this many cases of abuse from homeschooling parents each day do you really think homeschooling would be legal?

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