San Jose Catholic school under fire for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse allegations decades ago

SAN JOSE (CA)
The Mercury News

November 7, 2017

By Tracey Kaplan

SAN JOSE — A private Catholic girls school in San Jose is grappling with accusations from a graduate who said a longtime teacher who has since died sexually molested her and another student decades ago but never was held accountable.

In an essay published in the Washington Post, Kathryn Leehane described her frustration after she reported to school officials and police that a teacher had sexually molested her and another student.

“The teacher remained at the school,” wrote Leehane, who did not name the teacher or the school. “Eventually, I lost hope for justice.”

The essay, titled “When the Legal System Fails Sexual Assault Victims, We Have To Find Our Own closure,” prompted graduates of the school Monday to circulate an online petition on change.org to Presentation High School. As of Tuesday afternoon, about 1,900 people had signed it.

The unnamed authors of the petition are demanding an independent investigation and a public apology. They also want officials who were told about the allegations but did not take appropriate action to face “consequences.”

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