Accused of abuse, O’Dea principal Brother Karl Walczak quits

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Brother Karl Walczak resigned as principal of O’Dea High School in Seattle Wednesday, the same day the school announced he is accused of sex abuse of a minor.

The allegations relate to Walczak’s time teaching in another diocese in the early 1970s, the school said. Walczak denies the allegations, according to a statement to O’Dea parents on Wednesday by Zachary Lell, chairman of the O’Dea School Board.

Operation of the school will continue under the leadership of Acting Principal James Walker.

Walker took over at the school last August, when Walczak was called away to New York by the Christian Brothers to “assist in resolving a proof of claim in the Christian Brothers Institute bankruptcy proceeding,” according to a news release from the school.

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