Last week, the Mercer Island community learned of a second MIHS teacher’s alleged sexual misconduct. An InvestigateWest article details allegations against former English teacher Curtis Johnston. The article was released Thursday, Oct. 23, an hour before school started, leaving students, teachers and administrators in a state of distress.
“I feel a range of emotions from anger and frustration to sadness, to our former Islander that went through something horrific,” MIHS Principal Nick Wold said.
He organized a short-term response while dealing with these emotions.
“I met with [the Parent Advisory Committee] immediately after reading the article, and then I went with district leaders to talk about ways that we needed to respond and work,” Wold said.. “Then, I spent time in the afternoon with our faculty to talk to them about their feelings and ways we can support our students best.”
The administration had been vaguely notified that InvestigateWest was publishing an article, but did not know the exact content of the piece.
“I didn’t know anything about the nature of it involving a student in sexual relations with Mr. Johnston until [that Thursday] morning,” Superintendent Fred Rundle said. “I chose not to tell [staff] because I didn’t know what the story was going to be about.”
In the week since the news hit, many are curious about the next steps the district will take to ease student concerns and ensure safety. The email that Rundle sent out to the Mercer Island community outlined actions that have already been taken: Filing police and Child Protective Services reports, opening an independent district investigation, placing Johnston’s co- worker David Willecke on paid leave and meeting with staff and students. Willecke is undergoing an investigation about his potential failure to report Johnston’s allegedly inappropriate behavior.
“Our primary responsibility in the last two school days since we learned of it was [supporting students in] Mr. Willecke’s class,” Rundle said. “Because those students had [him] and now he’s not here.”
It is unknown whether students will be contacted as part of the investigation into Johnston.
“As far as Mr. Johnston’s students from the past, it’s an active investigation, and so there might be information that we learn about, that [will make us] go to existing students,” Rundle said. “One of the concerns that I have is that we don’t have a healthy enough culture right now in our district … that people can come forward and feel like they’re heard. I’m not going to blame the high school, [it’s in] our district, or maybe it’s our community.”
While Rundle focuses on how these issues are rooted in long-term culture, Wold highlights that the circumstances are unique and may represent a significant departure from character.
“I feel like this has cast a really dark light on our school when we have such a beautiful place, and a place that is really supportive of students,” Wold said. “It has also created some trust issues for our students with staff. We have some blurry lines where those relationship boundaries have been crossed. We need students to understand those lines, and we need staff to understand those lines. I’ve learned a lot about not just the current situation but actually a variety of other things that are making students feel uncomfortable on our campus, so hopefully … we won’t be in a situation of being reactive, but we can start to be proactive.”
This reaction in talking to students is a stark contrast to the way Chris Twombley’s allegations were handled. In the last two weeks, Wold has made headway in finding other potential crossed boundaries within our school. This, however, has placed all staff members under the microscope.
In correspondence with seeking accountability and improving systems, Wold highlights the need to rebuild students’s trust in being able to report concerns. “We need to make sure we start to button up when something’s recorded; how do we close the loop so a student knows that there’s been action or something’s been done?”
While the admin is taking measures to ease the fear in the community, they are aware that reforming the protocols and culture that led to this mistrust will be a long process.
“I don’t expect people to just say, ‘okay, Mr. Rundle, we’re all in now.’ I’ve got to continue to meet with [students] to articulate, to have webinars and to be present.”
