More students accuse Steilacoom teacher of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching
The same month a Steilacoom math teacher was placed on administrative leave for allegedly sexually harassing a student, at least two other girls filed complaints saying he touched them inappropriately.
Eric Garrett, 60, has been on paid administrative leave from his post at Steilacoom High School since Nov. 4. A lawsuit against Garrett and the district is pending.
Steilacoom Historical School District says it is investigating complaints by at least three female students who claim Garrett touched them last year and several anonymous allegations made against him through an online safe schools reporting tool.
Details on the most recent allegations were not provided in documents recently obtained by The News Tribune.
The investigation is looking into whether Garrett “engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional physical interactions with female students this school year,” according to a Nov. 8 email sent by Susanne Beauchaine, executive director of human resources.
While on leave, Garrett is barred from setting foot on the high school campus and other district properties and was warned not to communicate with students, parents or fellow employees.
His position as math department head and the accompanying stipend have been given to another teacher for the remainder of the school year.
This is at least the fourth investigation into Garrett touching female students since 2018.
Attempts by The News Tribune to reach his attorney, Mark O’Donnell, were not successful.
District finds ‘non-sexual’ touching
In June 2018, a girl accused Garrett of touching her bra strap and making her uncomfortable. Another complained the math teacher regularly touched her shoulders, gave her higher grades for the exact same work as other students and made fun of male students and athletes.
“I was nervous about bringing it up, I was scared,” she told district officials, according to records.
Another girl said she did not speak up about her encounters with Garrett because she was afraid she would get in trouble with him.
“I don’t want him to be mean to me,” she told the principal, according to his notes of the meeting.
Garrett was warned about his “problematic” behavior with students and given a refresher on sexual harassment policies and maintaining professional boundaries, records say.
Within three months, another investigation was launched after he allegedly slid his hand beneath a student’s skirt, squeezed her bare thigh and said, “Good job.” That incident led to a lawsuit being filed in July by the student, who has since graduated.
Her attorney, Thomas Balerud, has argued the district is a mandatory reporter and should have turned the case over to police. Instead, the district launched its own investigation that found Garrett did indeed touch his students but “in a non-sexual fashion.”
Although district officials told the girl’s parents that Garrett would be appropriately disciplined, they offered no details about what that discipline would entail.
One of the girls he touched was transferred out of his class, and the district paid for her to finish her math class at Pierce College, according to district records.
It was an instructor at Pierce College who reported the girl’s claims to the state Social and Health Services Children’s Administration, which in turn called Steilacoom police in October 2018.
One of the girl’s parents complained to district officials that the investigation was taking too long, that Garrett was giving intimidating looks to their daughter in school and expressed concerns about student safety in the math teacher’s classroom.
Michael Miller, the principal, told the parents he believed their daughter’s accusation against Garrett and said he needed “to do my due diligence,” according to district notes of the meeting.
The principal acknowledged they weren’t taking steps to protect students during the investigation other than frequently stopping by Garrett’s classes.
“It’s not a perfect answer. We will take the appropriate steps,” Miller told the parents, according to records.
Around the same time, two male students also filed complaints against Garrett.
One said Garrett was grading him unfairly, told him the first week of school that the student was likely to fail the class and that he was “mentally and emotionally beat down,” according to an email from the boy’s mother, who requested that her son be transferred out of Garrett’s class.
Another boy’s mom told district officials her son didn’t want to attend school because of Garrett’s verbal abuse and asked that the district pay for the boy to take the math class online.
“The math teacher is a bully, not only to my son but others as well,” his mother wrote in a Dec. 20, 2018, email. “He makes fun of kids that don’t understand, including, bringing up past mistakes they have made, even when not relevant to the current task.”
An investigation that wrapped up in February 2019 found Garrett “has repeatedly engaged in physical contact with female students in his math classes by placing his hand or hands on students’ backs and shoulders while each student was seated at her desk and while Mr. Garrett was standing or kneeling beside the student.”
It could not find evidence that he made derogatory comments in class regarding race, sex and sexual orientation.
District officials ordered Garrett to attend courses on sexual harassment policies and maintaining professional boundaries two months after the investigation concluded.
Records obtained by The News Tribune do not indicate whether Garrett has been otherwise disciplined for his conduct.
In April 2020, school officials told Garrett he would not be able to chaperon or participate in senior prom or graduation ceremonies for three separate years to keep him from having direct contact with girls who have accused him of sexually harassing them.
Trouble getting along with colleagues
Not all of Garrett’s troubles with the district have involved students.
In June 2016, he was given a written reprimand by then-Principal Debra Hay for unprofessional behavior stemming from emails sent to or about district officials.
He was warned in September 2015 and May 2016 to use a professional tone and given guidance on how to communicate with superiors and peers to ensure emails are “professional and productive to eliminate misunderstanding of email perception,” records say.
A teacher complained repeatedly in 2018 about Garrett inappropriately touching students and making demeaning comments about the teacher’s art class.
Garrett most recently had issues with Miller, the high school principal.
After Garrett expressed interest in being head of the math department in June 2020, Miller sent him an email saying he would not be appointed to the post because Garrett threw garbage on the principal’s car, made unprofessional comments at a school board meeting, yelled at district employees in front of students and staff and disparaged district employees on social media.
“Your actions this year have not shown characteristics of a strong leader,” Miller wrote to Garrett in the email.
Later that month, Miller again emailed Garrett asking if they could have a face-to-face conversation at his convenience to work out their problems.
“It probably won’t be a comfortable conversation, but I think if we can get concerns out to one another we can rebuild some trust both ways, and I know SHS will benefit from that,” Miller wrote.
Instead of replying to the principal, Garrett emailed a fellow teacher to complain about Miller’s leadership and say he had no respect for their boss. It included an expletive directed at Miller.
Garrett has been teaching with Steilacoom Historical School District since 1997, first at Pioneer Middle School and then at the high school. He also has worked as the baseball coach, head of the math department and summer school teacher.
