Email About Coach Whitehurst

Email from 2013 from Faubion Principal LaShawn Lee about Mitchell Whitehurst.

Portland Public Schools board members voted 4-3 Monday to settle an employee's $250,000 legal claim-- avoiding a trial next month that threatened a public look at the district's response to years of sexual misconduct complaints against a coach.

The board also directed the district's new interim superintendent to scrutinize the district's complaint process and assigned the board's audit committee to assess how complaints are handled. The decision to settle came during a special meeting first announced Friday.

The employee, whom The Oregonian/OregonLive is declining to name, filed a $650,000 lawsuit in last August accusing longtime coach and athletics administrator Mitchell Whitehurst of inserting "his finger or some other unknown object in, on or around (the employee's) anus" while he was clothed, talking to another teacher.

The incident left Whitehurst with a criminal record. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment.

The lawsuit also said Whitehurst was a known threat within the district, alleging students had accused Whitehurst of sexual misconduct for years but that their complaints weren't properly handled.

The district let Whitehurst retire, but the Oregon Teaching Standards and Practices Commission revoked his license after an investigation. The commission said it based its decision in part on an investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct against Whitehurst from the 1980s. The commission's report noted Whitehurst denied the allegations.

Board member Paul Anthony, who voted against settling the case, said a trial would have forced a public airing.

"There does not appear at this point to be any way or any real will to make the kinds of substantive changes that would be necessary to make sure this kind of thing does not happen again," Anthony said in an interview. "I'm concerned about how many victims there might be and how they are doing and what they might need. But I'm also concerned for the future. How are we going to deal with these issues when they come up in the future?"

Board members Steve Buel and Mike Rosen also voted against settling the case. Buel said he will continue to push for a review of how allegations against Whitehurst were handled.

"I personally think we should investigate how this whole thing came down," Buel said.

Vice chair Amy Kohnstamm said during the meeting that settling the case wouldn't keep the district from examining how it handles complaints. She echoed board members in calling for a review of the district's complaint system and stressed whatever process is in place should protect students.

All three no votes -- Buel, Rosen and Anthony -- told The Oregonian/OregonLive in interviews they felt the settlement amount was high.

Anthony also said the $250,000 settlement amount, recommended by a mediator, indicated the mediator believed "the plaintiff could demonstrate that the district had a pattern of ignoring bad behavior, abusive behavior."

The proposed settlement comes after Portland Public Schools asked a judge to forgo a trial and rule in the district's favor.

Matthew Ellis, the attorney for the employee whom Whitehurst harassed, responded by filing court briefings late last month alleging that Portland Public Schools mishandled sexual misconduct complaints from students and staff against Whitehurst.

One email released by Ellis, sent in 2013 by the principal at Faubion K-8, mentioned "30 years of rumblings" about Whitehurst and warned about "this becoming a 'Penn State University' scandal." The principal was referring to a notorious sex abuse and cover-up case involving a longtime college football coach.

Ellis declined to comment for this article. Attempts to reach Whitehurst have been unsuccessful.

Portland Public Schools has taken issue in court filings with the employee's characterization of the allegations over the years and has said, while it received information about Whitehurst, the district acted appropriately under the circumstances.

-- Bethany Barnes