‘An uphill battle’: Concerned parent blasts Olympia School District amid teacher avoiding prison

A former Olympia teacher charged with third-degree child molestation avoided prison time by accepting a plea deal, reported The Bellingham Herald this week.

Alesha Perkins, an Olympia School District parent who reports teacher conduct, shared her experience working with the school board on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“The pattern I see actually involves not wanting to involve law enforcement,” Perkins said.

She explained that in 2020, the school board removed all the school resource officers.

“There has been a pattern that I’ve seen where things that really should involve law enforcement, with reporting, involving them, threats of weapons, things like that, are not being properly called in,” Perkins said.

Former teacher Jonathan J. Moore, 35, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Thurston County Superior Court on Friday. He had initially been charged with child molestation, second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. However, Moore’s plea allowed him to maintain his innocence while pleading guilty to an amended charge to avoid a potentially harsher outcome.

The judge in the case followed the prosecutor’s recommendation and gave Moore a first-time offender waiver and credit for time served, avoiding prison.

Parent’s perspective on former Olympia School District teacher

Perkins shared that her daughter had Moore as a teacher.

“This teacher had been in the district from 2016 to 2022; my daughter actually had him at Jefferson Middle School,” she said. “He was kind of described at that point in time as odd, socially awkward, a little bit creepy. But I did not know the extent of what was going on until the arrest, which I was made aware.”

Perkins explained that there were multiple complaints against him from 2021 to 2022.

“It’s important for people to understand that they never contacted law enforcement, so what they did is an internal investigation, and by June of 2022, they ended up placing Mr. Moore on administrative leave,” she said.

Perkins said her experience working with the school board hasn’t been easy, and she hopes people will be motivated to vote when the time comes.

“It does feel like an uphill battle,” she said. “I do acknowledge and give them credit. These positions are elected. So, people really need to start, we have a small amount of people that are voting, but people need to get involved and understand how much power a school board has over the entire school district and start getting involved.”

To listen to the full conversation, click the player below:

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