A 35-year-old music teacher at the Palo Alto "School of Rock" – an after-school rock music program – was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a 15-year-old student, police said Tuesday.

John Patrick Root was arrested Thursday at his San Francisco home on suspicion of four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor after investigators said they discovered he was abusing an unnamed student.

Root worked as a part-time music teacher at the School of Rock at 2645 Middlefield Rd. and had been abusing the student "over the past several months," Palo Alto police officials said.

Investigators said the abuse occurred when Root met the victim at other locations in Palo Alto.

Officials at the School of Rock music program said Tuesday that Root was fired as soon as they were informed by police on July 13 that he was under investigation.

"Our highest priority is the safety of our students and we immediately engaged in working with the Police Department to assist in their investigation," officials of the after-school program said in a statement.

Root underwent a background check before being hired for the program, according to the statement.

"As soon as we learned of the investigation, we terminated his employment," the statement reads. "Additionally, we informed our parent community so that they were immediately aware of his termination and the investigation."

Police are looking into whether there are other victims. Anyone with information about the incident or other cases can call Palo Alto police at (650) 383-8984.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky



