An attorney for Oregon's largest school district threatened to sue a substitute teacher if she told a jury how Portland Public Schools failed to investigate complaints that an educator demanded oral sex from her and a classmate when they were students in the 1980s, says a complaint the woman filed Monday.

The complaint is the latest development following an Oregonian/OregonLive investigation into disgraced educator Mitch Whitehurst. That investigation, published in August, exposed a system that helped Whitehurst evade allegations of sexual misconduct for years at the expense of students.

That news story spurred the school board to hire independent investigators to review the matter and to question its relationship with its longtime go-to defender, high-powered law firm Miller Nash Graham & Dunn.

The substitute, who has asked to only go by her first name, Caprice, twice told highly placed district officials about Whitehurst's conduct toward her as a student, telling a district lawyer in 2008 and a principal in 2012. But the district never followed up.

In 2014, when a male colleague complained Whitehurst offensively touched him, a criminal investigation ensued. Whitehurst pleaded guilty to harassment, and the district terminated his employment. The male employee sued the district in 2015, arguing the district for years knew Whitehurst was a danger to employees and students. He asked Caprice to testify, which she agreed to do.

Then, Caprice says, in 2016 she got a call from Miller Nash attorney Naomi Haslitt, who explained the call was on behalf of Jollee Patterson, the district's top in-house lawyer.

Haslitt "was very polite in thanking me for my service to the district, mentioning we were 'like a family' and that I had no obligation to participate in the investigation into Whitehurst's actions," the complaint says.

But Caprice says when she told Haslitt she planned to cooperate, Haslitt's demeanor changed.

"She became threatening, warning me against saying (anything) negative against the district, saying they could sue me," The complaint says. "She then said, 'If you are going to testify against the district, you should get a lawyer.' Then she hung up on me."

Haslitt did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Patterson, who resigned from her school district job in summer 2016 to take a job at Miller Nash.

School board chair Julia Brim-Edwards, who took office in July, responded to Caprice's complaint Monday on behalf of herself and Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero. "The District will not tolerate any retaliation against those who participate in good faith in the Whitehurst or any other investigation," she wrote.

"Thank you for your email, sharing your experience, and raising your concerns with us. We will treat your email as a formal complaint and investigate the concerns you raised," she wrote.

"Please know that we continue to encourage all persons with information about Mr. Whitehurst and the pending allegations related to his employment with Portland Public Schools to come forward and to share that information with the District's independent investigators."

In the wake of Caprice's 2008 report, the district did not look into her claims, nor did it report them to the state's teacher licensing agency.

But when that agency investigated Whitehurst for criminally touching the male colleague in fall 2014, it uncovered records of Caprice's complaint and interviewed her, her friend and Whitehurst about the allegations.

The agency found Whitehurst had committed sexual misconduct with the two teens and, in January 2016, revoked his teaching license.

Caprice told The Oregonian/OregonLive she felt the district's lawyers wanted to keep her quiet to avoid testimony about how they'd ignored allegations that, when someone finally took them seriously, resulted in Whitehurst losing his teaching license.

"I can't just brush this off and hope things get better," Caprice said. "The only way Portland Public Schools learns is if it is painful for them."

Caprice never did testify because the school board settled its case with the male colleague before trial for $250,000. The board's vote was contentious, with some school board members questioning if a trial was needed to bring out the truth of what happened. The board directed staff to scrutinize district conduct regarding Whitehurst.

Ten months after that request, the district had done nothing to investigate, officials said. Instead, the district had paid more than $11,000 to Miller Nash in a failed effort to keep The Oregonian/OregonLive from obtaining records related to Whitehurst. After the resulting article was published, outraged board members hand-picked a team of independent investigators to look into the matter.

Board member Mike Rosen told The Oregonian/OregonLive he felt attorneys pressured the school board to settle the lawsuit to avoid more information about the district's mishandling of Whitehurst becoming public.

"I don't want to mention names. I think it is enough to say the counsel that what we got from our attorneys — whether they were from inside the district or outside counsel — it was awful," Rosen said in August. "It just makes me realize we need better counsel from the inside and the outside."

Caprice says she's tired of watching the district dodge accountability.

"If I sit and say nothing, they are just going to do it to the next person who wants to speak the truth to the power of Portland Public Schools," she said. "What I want is I don't want lawyers working for Portland Public Schools to be able to shut witnesses down by threatening them. I don't think that's too high of a bar."

Have information about Whitehurst or how Portland Public Schools responds to sexual misconduct complaints? How to contact the school board's independent investigators HERE.

— Bethany Barnes

Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.com