ORIGINAL STORY:
A Tahoma School District employee is under arrest in connection with an alleged student sexual assault. The school district is cooperating with the police investigation.
Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested the 23-year-old man on Friday and he is being held in the King County Jail. Formal charges have not yet been filed. Further details about the allegations and investigation will come from the King County Sheriff and King County Prosecuting Attorney’s offices. The school district is not releasing further information today in order to protect the identity of the family.
Interim Superintendent Mike Maryanski said the school district is cooperating fully with the police investigation, and will hire an outside investigator as well. He said the district is committed to providing support to the family members.
“We are saddened that any of our young people would be subjected to abuse,” Maryanski said. “Our hearts go out to them and we pledge our support in this difficult time.”
UPDATE from Tahoma School District:
Following up on this afternoon’s message, we have received clarification from the King County Sheriff’s Office regarding information that can be released about the staff member who was arrested Friday for alleged sexual assault of a student.
Here are additional details:
The employee is a paraeducator at Glacier Park Elementary School. He also works in the Extended Enrichment Program at Tahoma Elementary School. He is a staff member of the COVID-19 childcare service currently in place at Lake Wilderness Elementary School, but did not work with students in pre-kindergarten through first grade.
He is currently on administrative leave. We will be conducting further checks of his job assignments and will review previous employment locations and information, which will be shared with parents soon.
Parents of students who were or might have been under his supervision could be contacted by police. Tahoma School District will set up two telephone hotlines on Sunday: one line for parents who have questions and a second line for parents who may have concerns about inappropriate contact with the employee. You will receive a message tomorrow with details about the hotlines. District counselors will be available at the Lake Wilderness childcare site on Monday.
The district acknowledges that this afternoon’s message created a high level of anxiety among parents. We wanted to inform families of this situation, but did not want to hinder the police investigation nor identify the victim. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this very difficult time.
