D.A. Won’t Act Against School That Faces Suit

ORANGE — It began with the behavioral problems of several boys at St. John’s Lutheran School--smart-alecky talk during classes, disrespect toward teachers and disregard of school rules.

But in the year since two of the boys were expelled, these disciplinary problems have turned to legal ones amid allegations that teachers hit and shoved them and the pastor belittled and humiliated them.

Last spring, the boys who were expelled and their parents sued the school, three teachers and Pastor Norbert Oesch for $250,000 apiece.

After the suit was filed in May, Orange police investigated whether other children had been manhandled, and for several months the threat of criminal charges hovered over St. John’s.

California banned corporal punishment in schools in 1986.

But Wednesday, the district attorney’s office decided not to file charges, citing insufficient evidence.

“The parents could well be very correct in wanting something done about their children’s [treatment], but the criminal justice system isn’t always the right forum for that--it can’t solve all the ills of the world,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane L. Shade said.

Shade would not comment further on the investigation, nor would Orange police.

To school representatives, the district attorney has vindicated St. John’s.

“It’s a Christian school. It’s been in business for umpteen years. They have an excellent reputation and no, they’re not in the business of abusing their students,” said Barbara L. Bollero, attorney for the defendants.

The lawsuit filed by Cherie Kerr and her son Drake Doremus, 14, and Gary and Brenda Blackburn and their son Ryan, 14, alleges a mixture of physical heavy-handedness and sheer meanness.

Named in the lawsuit are St. John’s Lutheran School and St. John’s Lutheran Church, Oesch and teachers Charles Hoger, Paul Koehnke and Stephanie Van Blarcom. Hoger and Koehnke are accused of manhandling the Doremus and Blackburn boys, and Van Blarcom is accused of humiliating Doremus when she told a class that he had been expelled from every school had attended.

The families allege that Hoger grabbed Blackburn, “threw him into a water fountain” and “violently” shoved him into a seat.

Kerr said Koehnke punched her son in the back and shoved and humiliated him at school.

The suit accuses Oesch of emotionally “terrorizing” the students, telling them they should “fall down on their knees before him (as the personal representative of Jesus Christ) and repent for being such horrible sinners and awful people.”

Oesch was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment. The school referred questions to Bollero. She said the allegations against Oesch and the teachers are “baloney.”

In two letters to the St. John’s community last spring, officials denied all wrongdoing. The boys expelled were troublemakers who did not respond to counseling, punishment and repeated efforts to help them live up to St. John’s behavioral standards, school officials said.

Kerr acknowledged that her son was “mouthy” and presented behavioral challenges because he has attention deficit disorder. “But when we enrolled him, they said they’d be able to handle it and could be patient,” she said.

Blackburn said she and her husband knew their son’s grades were not good but that teachers never mentioned behavioral problems to her until he was on the verge of expulsion.

Kerr said the two boys were singled out from a group of eight students. Another boy was expelled but later allowed to return, she said. “Our kids were no more spunky than other typical eighth-graders,” she said.

Kerr and Brenda Blackburn said other parents, especially those with children still attending St. John’s, had been too intimidated by the school to speak.

“It’s disappointing because I’ve got a lot of people calling me and saying we’re behind you but then nobody wants to talk,” said Brenda Blackburn.

Bollero scoffed at that notion. “It strikes me as amusing that anyone would think a teacher or institution could control an entire student body, let alone parents, siblings, volunteer workers on the premises,” she said.

The Times contacted several people whose names Blackburn and Kerr provided, but they declined to talk.

Kerr said her lawsuit will bring out what really happened.

“What’s important to me is that people know the truth about this place,” she said. “I know they hit them there, they have kicked students and yet they’re walking around like they’re the greatest thing--a religious institution--when they need to shut the place down, clean it out.”

The parties are scheduled to meet in court in late January when a trial date will be set.