Document text
Ex-school official suspended State board cites sexual contact The Associated Press GRANTS PASS -- A state commission has suspended the teaching license of a former vice principal at Grants Pass High School, after concluding he repeatedly had sexual contact with male students and Boy Scouts. The contact consisted of massages Jim Savard gave to at least seven young boys in the 1970s and 1980s while they were wearing only their underwear. Savard defended the massages as part of a "boundary breaking" teaching style and denied they were sexual in nature. He has 60 days to request a judicial review of the order. However, the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission rejected Savard's defense and suspended him for a year. The suspension will not affect his career, because Savard, 52, took early retirement from the Grants Pass School District 7 in June. The commission based its ruling on an investigation of a complaint filed in January 1998 by a former Boy Scout and student at Crater High School in Central Point. According to a 16-page final document obtained by the Grants Pass Daily Courier, the 1981 graduate complained that Savard had him remove his clothes and massaged him in a way that made him feel confused. The commission noted such massages were given to other students and Scouts and cited seven specific cases. Savard taught history and student leadership classes at the high school, sometimes holding study groups and social activities in his home. Calls to Savard by the newspaper were not returned. Savard was also a Boy Scout leader for about 25 years, until asked to resign in 1987 because of his association with a convicted sex offender. Scouts would sometimes spend the night at his home without anyone else there, the commission said, and sometimes students lived in his home. "On some occasions, Savard gave male students and Scouts full body massages while the male lay prone face down," the report said. "When Savard gave these massages, the male recipients would sometimes remove their shirt and trousers. Savard sometimes received massages from students and Scouts while he was in a similar state of undress." One person testified about a massage that included the genital area, according to the report. Savard told the commission he didn't remember certain times when former students testified they were massaged and felt uneasy, and denied giving a massage that included the genital area. "The evidence before the panel clearly establishes that Savard crossed the line and exploited his relationships with students," the commission said. "Giving massages while in a state of partial or full undress while in the teacher's bedroom without others present can never be appropriate, regardless of whether the student sought the massage or merely acquiesced." The commission also accused Savard of abusing his position as head of student leadership and of discriminating against female students. The commission suspended rather than revoked Savard's license, the report said, because of the age of the complaint and the lack of more recent complaints. Also, it based its decision on a doctor's opinion that Savard "does not pose a predatory sexual disposition." Savard retired at the end of last school year after 30 years with the district. No criminal investigation was made in 1987, when Savard was asked to leave the Boy Scouts. "We did everything that we thought was appropriate," said Ed Weiseth, executive director of the Boy Scouts of America, said Thursday. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA