Salem-Keizer Public Schools paid $400,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging Joshua Rist, a former McNary High School choir teacher, groomed and sexually abused two students between 2015 and 2020.
The $10 million lawsuit, filed by two former McNary students in September 2023, also named the school district, alleging it failed to protect them from the teacher.
Each of the plaintiffs, who were not named in the lawsuit, received $200,000, according to the settlement agreements, which the district provided to the Statesman Journal in response to a public records request.
The agreements were signed Nov. 5 and filed with the court on Nov. 25.
District officials did not immediately respond to questions about where the money to pay the settlement came from.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools paid $400,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging Joshua Rist, a former McNary High School choir teacher, groomed and sexually abused two students between 2015 and 2020.
Neither Rist nor his lawyers have responded to the Statesman Journal’s interview requests.
Rist was teaching at Kalapuya Elementary School when the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 27, 2023.
He was placed on paid administrative leave on Oct. 2, 2023, after the district received an additional complaint about him from another McNary student.
The district’s investigation into that second complaint is still underway, district spokesman Aaron Harada said, and Rist remains on paid leave.
The plaintiffs “can feel proud that their bravery in coming forward precipitated the long-overdue move by the district to get Joshua Rist out of the classroom and away from children,” their lawyer, Emily C. Stebbins, said.
“It also prompted a legislative change to further protect students from sexual advances by teachers,” she said. “We hope these overdue but positive outcomes can protect children in the future from going through what our clients endured.”
In March 2024, in response to the lawsuit, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill aimed at better protecting students from sexual grooming in schools.
HB 4160 increased the time during which an individual is considered a “student,” from 90 days to one year after graduating or leaving high school, for laws requiring reporting, investigation and disclosures about a school employee, contractor, agent or volunteer engaging in sexual contact with a student.
Tracy Loew covers education at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem-Keizer district settles suit alleging sexual grooming