School Board’s Response to Sexual Assault Draws Criticism from Community
The Tahoma School Board is drawing criticism after releasing a statement related to its handling of multiple child sexual assaults that occurred within the district by Bryan Neyers, a former Tahoma staff member. The statement came in response to expressed outrage over the lack of accountability of district administrators who appeared to allow the assaults to take place, despite warnings from junior staff.
Statement from the Tahoma School Board:
Dear Tahoma Family,
As you may know, in 2020, a District employee was arrested and charged with alleged sexual abuse of multiple students. That employee was terminated shortly after their arrest. As civil claims were recently settled out-of-court, and with the former employee’s criminal trial approaching, you may be seeing these events revisited by local media.
Reports of sexual abuse in our schools are rightfully upsetting and worrisome for parents, staff, students and our community. For individuals who have survived sexual abuse, reports like these can cause them to relive traumatic events. Our hearts are with every child and adult in our community who has been impacted by these circumstances.
You see and hear “Tahoma CARES” throughout our district. At its core, Tahoma CARES is about constantly working to do better for children and our community. We must stand behind those words by recognizing areas of growth, and continually supporting our families during challenging times.
When abuse occurs at school, it is imperative for the district to look closely at its processes and find opportunities to improve. In order to do better for our students, we have made significant steps to update our standards and procedures, including those regarding documentation and progressive discipline practices. Every family deserves to send their child to a safe school where they are confident its leaders will do everything in their power to protect their students.
In addition to continuing our annual training for staff on sexual harassment of students and staff-student boundaries, these are additional specific steps our district has taken since 2020 to strengthen practices and ensure the safety of our students moving forward:
Revisiting and updating relevant policies and procedures, including those prohibiting sexual harassment of students, requiring appropriate staff/student boundaries, and addressing/discussing child abuse and neglect Expanding training for staff who lead Title IX sexual harassment investigations .
Expanding District-level support for school-based staff who are responding to concerns of sexual harassment Expanding training for staff who lead Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) investigations.
Expanding training for staff on their role as mandatory reporters of abuse/suspected abuse and in identifying behaviors that constitute boundary invasions, which can in turn lead to abuse.
Our families deserve a district that takes responsibility for its actions and provides families and staff with key facts when information is published without important context. In this case, where concerns surrounding this employee’s conduct were elevated to the appropriate staff, the concerns were investigated. There were multiple meetings with the accused individual that resulted in letters of direction and verbal warnings, both of which are early steps for correcting concerning behaviors and consistent with progressive discipline obligations owed by the District to its employees. Prior to police arresting the individual, there were no reports of physical or sexual abuse that were brought to any District staff.
We are grateful that families continue to advocate on behalf of their students. It is also important to recognize that our district must act based on available information, and in accordance with laws, policies and expectations that require due process and standards of fairness. District personnel, some of whom worked with an individual accused of manipulating and deceiving both children and adults for years, have been emotionally impacted by this case. This situation has been very difficult and distressing for staff, all of whom are committed to providing a safe learning environment for young children. We must treat our personnel– both current staff, and former staff who reported concerns– with humanity and empathy.
We understand there will be continued questions and concerns, and we will respond to those to the best of our ability while respecting the privacy of those involved and the pending criminal trial.
Our promise now is to continue holding ourselves and all staff to the highest standard in regard to student safety. This is a constant process that the District must regularly revisit to ensure we are aligned with best practices. Our leaders are fully committed to protecting our students, their families, and our staff by fostering safe learning environments for all.
In partnership,
Pete Miller, School Board President, Position 4
Malia Hollowell, School Board Vice President Position 3
Haley Pendergraft, School Board Director Position 1
Michael Wiggins, School Board Director Position 2
Matt Carreon, School Board Director Position 5
Mike Hanson, Superintendent
These resources may be helpful for students and any individuals affected by these reports and/or sexual abuse:
National Sexual Abuse Hotline: 24-hours per day – 1-800-656-4673
King County Sexual Assault Resource Center
University of Washington Sexual Assault Resources Talking to kids about tough subjects How to talk to children about difficult news
Many in the community feel that this response deflects responsibility, gaslights those concerned, and avoids any meaningful action. For example, the school board claimed in the response: “Prior to police arresting the individual, there were no reports of physical or sexual abuse that were brought to any District staff.“ This statement is false however, as there were in fact multiple reports by junior staff of extremely inappropriate conduct by the assailant. Suggestive and abusive statements towards young children such as, “I’ll give you a nickel if you suck on my pickle,” should have been grounds for immediate termination, according to most parents.
Some parents believe this grooming like behavior was also ignored to due existing district policy. The aggressive push towards “inclusion” that disregards merit in favor of diversity quotas is thought to have created an environment where leaders are afraid to properly react and reprimand those who are considered a “protected class.” Public records have shown that administrators repeatedly explained away employees’ complaints as “misunderstandings,” “rumor”, and “hearsay”. Some reasoned that because Neyers was a young, gay man — fresh out of Tahoma High School when he first began working at the district in 2015 — he was being held to a different standard than his co-workers.
Both Pete Miller and Malia Hollowell who were serving on the school board during Neyers arrest, have been noted as failing to communicate with the community for years on this subject, failing to hold staff accountable, and failing to enact any real policy changes that will prevent the next incident. Instead they have pushed further policy that “feels good” but continues to degrade the safety and experience of our children within the district.
Tahoma “CARES” seemingly more about keeping those employed who violated the trust of every parent in the district instead of protecting our children. If our district leaders cannot hold staff accountable to prevent the sexual abuse of children, than we as a community must replace them with leaders who will! Your vote this November is your strongest tool to enact real change. Do not let another Bryan Neyers walk amongst our children!
