Following the arrest of a Hudson Bay High School teacher last Friday for allegedly sexually abusing a student in 2013, two administrators from Vancouver Public Schools, including a principal, have been placed on administrative leave.
In an email sent to staff and students on January 4, the district announced that Valerie Seeley, the principal of Hudson Bay High School, and Bill Oman, the executive director of schools and learning for the district, had offered to take administrative leave as the investigation into teacher Shadbreon Gatson, 43, intensifies.
According to a Vancouver Public Schools representative who responded to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Seeley was associate principal at the time of the alleged abuse, while Oman was the principal of Hudson Bay High School.
According to school records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Gatson got a letter of admonishment as a consequence of an internal inquiry conducted in 2013 in which both Oman and Seeley participated regarding a potential inappropriate contact with a student.
According to Vancouver Police Department spokesman Kathy McNicholas, a woman accused the teacher of sexual abuse in 2013, three weeks prior to Gatson’s arrest last month. In 2013, the woman was a 16-year-old student at Hudson Bay.
In an email to parents and staff, district superintendent Jeff Snell and Vancouver School Board President Kathy Decker stated that the school is working with detectives from the Vancouver Police Department and that additional people have come forward with information concerning Gatson.
We are appreciative of those who have provided information. Snell and Decker said.
After a janitor reported finding the teacher alone in a dark storage room with his shoes off and his shirt untucked, school officials launched an investigation into Gatson in 2013. Before turning on the lights and seeing Gatson, the janitor claimed to have heard sounds coming from two distinct people.
According to the papers, the student informed Seeley during the 2013 investigation that she was in one of two adjacent rooms when the custodian arrived. According to school records, the student said that nothing improper occurred between her and Gatson.
According to school documents, Gatson also denied that anything improper had happened with the student when he was interviewed by Oman during the 2013 investigation. He went on to say that until he switched them off to go, the lights were on in the room with the student. According to the documents, he then claimed to have gone to a back room to switch off another light.
In an email to Missy Hallead, the district’s executive director of human resources at the time, Oman stated that while he did not believe anything had happened, there were some clear blunders in boundaries and Shad’s poor decision-making.
Oman sent Gatson a letter of censure for his lack of self-control and boundaries during the 2013 incident. According to documents, he was given another letter of reprimand in 2017 for having two female pupils in his class who weren’t supposed to be there.
In an email sent on January 4, the school district announced that it was engaging a third-party, independent investigator to examine the previous inquiry of Gatson by the school administration.
Oman stated in a statement attached to the email sent to parents and staff that, with the information available at the time, we complied with all established protocols and procedures.
In 2013, Seeley stated in the statement, “I followed all procedures as directed for a thorough investigation.” I’m appreciative that the victims have shared fresh information, and I’ll keep helping the investigations.
Crime, public safety, and local news are all topics covered by breaking news reporter Tatum Todd. You can contact them at 503-221-4313 or [email protected].
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