St. Helens superintendent outlines corrective-action plan and updates on misconduct reporting policies

Superintendent Dr. Gray told the St. Helens School District 502 Board of Directors on the evening of the meeting that she will lead a corrective-action plan focused on training, investigations and improved reporting practices after recent personnel and student-safety concerns.

The plan, Dr. Gray said, lays out measurable tasks, responsible staff and timelines and will include recurring training on mandatory reporting, investigative practice and boundaries between staff and students. She described daily reporting work and stressed the district’s legal limits on naming people involved in personnel or child-welfare reports.

Dr. Gray said the district is using the Oregon School Boards Association policy updates and changes tied to House Bill 4160 (2024) to revise local rules for reporting suspected misconduct. She told the board the district will post reporting forms and has two administrative routes for handling allegations: the human-resources director now and an assistant superintendent of teaching and learning when that position is filled. The assistant superintendent position, she said, is intended to oversee k–12 teaching and learning and to take the lead on reported allegations if needed.

Why this matters: The superintendent framed the work as part of preventing future misconduct and improving transparency about processes while preserving confidentiality required by law. She said the district will provide repeated training to administrators and staff and will post Title IX/contact information and complaint forms in every building.

Dr. Gray described training and investigative steps the district is scheduling, including PACE training on sexual assault in April and other investigative training in May. She said administrators and HR will be trained to document investigations and that the district will develop a manual on professional staff–student boundaries.

On confidentiality and personnel action, Dr. Gray told the board an employee identified in the meeting as “Mr. Stearns” was not released on bail and was terminated by the board at the superintendent’s recommendation on Feb. 12, 2025. She repeated that personnel matters and mandatory-reporting details are confidential and not open for public disclosure and said that is why the public sometimes sees only outcomes and not the underlying processes.

“I sign all of the reports that go into Otis and get a person and a record number every single day out of this district,” Dr. Gray said, describing daily mandatory-reporting filings and case numbers she receives. She added that some investigatory work is carried out with regional partners and an outside investigator and that the district is receiving assistance from the Northwest Regional ESD on certain investigations.

Board members discussed the policy revisions in the packet, which the superintendent described as a second reading of model policies labeled in the packet as GBNAA/JHFF (employee/student suspected-misconduct reporting) and GCAA (standards for competent and ethical performance). The superintendent said the policies reflect the 2024 House bill change that extends the statutory definition of a “student” to include the year after graduation for misconduct-reporting purposes. She advised the board that adoption will be required at a subsequent meeting and asked the board to consider whether reports against a superintendent should be routed to HR now and to the assistant superintendent when that role exists.

The superintendent said the district will post the complaint forms (administrative regulations) online and in each building and that building administrators are the first recipients of most complaint forms; Title IX or HR will take lead depending on the allegation and parties involved. She said law enforcement or DHS/Otis is contacted immediately when required by the allegation.

Looking ahead, Dr. Gray said the corrective-action plan and the policy updates will be presented with measurable goals and periodic reporting to the board. She asked the board to expect additional work sessions to review implementation and said several trainings will be ongoing rather than “one-and-done.”

Details of note: The superintendent said the district will post Title IX contact information in all buildings and that the director of human resources currently serves as the alternate recipient for complaints until the assistant superintendent position is filled. She also said the district is seeking to expand mental-health partnerships and hire a school–community liaison within the family resource center.

Ending: The superintendent asked the board to review the corrective-action plan and the policy updates ahead of the next meeting and said she plans to lead building-level trainings over the next six weeks if the board approves the plan.