Report outlines sexual abuse at Portland private school

PORTLAND– A report says at least nine former teachers and other staffers at a private school in Portland, Oregon, sexually abused, groped or had sex with students in the last four decades.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that those were the findings of a year-long internal investigation commissioned by the board of trustees at Catlin Gabel.

The report listed complaints or allegations of abuse against another 12 former faculty members and coaches that could not be corroborated. The exact number of victims, many now in their 50s and 60s, is not known.

“These were little girls for the most part and the perpetrators were grown men,” said Bart Eberwein, a Portland construction executive and chair of the Catlin Gabel board. “The adults were being protected and the girls weren’t. There’s no sugarcoating that.”

Three of the six former teachers and coaches named as abusers in the report were eventually forced out of their jobs. Three other male teachers named in the report, each of whom the investigation found was credibly accused of engaging in sexual activity with a student or students, apparently faced no consequences.

The inappropriate behavior dates back to the 1970s.

Catlin Gabel’s board of trustees launched the investigation last October after a former student alleged on Facebook that she’d been abused by a Catlin teacher.

Catlin apologized to parents in a letter it issued Wednesday.

Tuition is more than $34,000 a year and admission to the 775-student school is competitive.