Nancy, 18, of San Jose, listened to her best friend talk about her alleged relationship with her chemistry teacher for months on end before she mustered up the courage to tell police. Investigators then told her not to tell anyone she had reported the crime — not even her best friend.
Now, former Leland High School chemistry teacher Earl Roske, 41, awaits trial in jail on $1 million bail.
The girl, whose first name has been changed to protect her identity, reported Roske in September to the San Jose Police Department. After an investigation, he was arrested May 6.
Nancy knew of the alleged relationship between Roske and her best friend — who was 17 at the time — for most of the 2004-05 school year.
But she said she didn’t know how serious it was.
“The conversations he had with her were always really inappropriate but nothing had really ever happened,” Nancy said.
But as the months passed, her concern grew.
“The fact that she was so deeply in love with him, that made me upset,” Nancy said. “She was so blinded that she didn’t know anything.”
When Roske allegedly sent her best friend a sexually-explicit photograph from his Web camera, Nancy had enough: “He had crossed many lines before and that was the last line he crossed for me.”
She told her mother about the accusation against Roske, who then set up a meeting at Leland High with an investigator.
“I was scared because I didn’t want to get in trouble or anyone to get hurt,” said Nancy about filing the report. “But I knew I wanted it to stop.”
San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman Karen Fuqua said it was a clandestine investigation. That meant officials from the school and district, students, and parents were not notified.
The secret was a huge burden on Nancy during the nine-month investigation.
“I had to sit there and keep on lying to my best friend,” she said. “I acted like I didn’t know anything. It was a struggle because not only was my friend feeling th
Nancy also was anxious because Roske was still teaching at Leland High during the investigation.
“I was afraid of Roske,” she said. “I had a feeling he knew it was me who told. When he looked at me, I could feel it.”
School officials told the Mosaic that it was not the first time Roske was investigated.
“The SJPD was called in to do an investigation last year after complaints were filed,” said Fuqua. “We thought it was needed, but there was not sufficient evidence for them to do any prosecution.”
Fuqua said the school district investigated all complaints that were filed except those sent anonymously. Nevertheless, some students became angered at the school’s apparent apathy toward their safety.
“So many people complained and not one action was taken. The school’s exact words about Roske last year were, ‘Moral lines were crossed but nothing happened,’ ” said Nancy, her voice rising in anger. “So it’s OK for a teacher to meet a student at a movie? It’s OK to talk about sex with a student on the Internet? Hell no, it’s way out of line. They should have done something, but they didn’t.”
There is no publicly disclosed evidence Roske did such things. However, rumors about alleged flirting with female students and other unusual behavior by the teacher hired in 1998 had spread among the student body.
“Pretty much the whole school knew about it,” said Joseph Palacios, 17, a recent Leland High graduate and former student of Roske.
Police arrested Roske on May 6 and charged him with one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation with a minor, two counts of using a minor to produce child pornography and two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor.
Many students said they weren’t shocked when Roske w
as arrested.
“I was totally not surprised,” Bradley said. “I was just shocked that it happened before I graduated. I felt that there was no way the school could prove it and they would be more likely to cover it up than fire him and have him arrested.”
Following the arrest, the school and the students had to deal with the aftermath, including media reports. Fuqua said the district sent a letter to parents about the arrest. District officials have been meeting with concerned parents during the last few months, she added.
Bradley said some students blamed one of the victims. “People were saying she led him on or she wanted it,” he said.
Most students feel the alleged incident with Roske will not affect their relationship with the rest of the school staff. They are choosing to move on, he said.
“I trust my teachers. I might not like them, but I trust them,” Bradley said.
The district is working with the YWCA’S rape center to provide people with information and resources “in order for them to be able to handle the crisis in the future themselves,” Fuqua said.
Nancy herself is now caught up in the rumor mill surrounding Roske. She said students she doesn’t know will ask her questions or comment on her role in the investigation. One student told her: “That was a good thing you did about Roske.” Such talk makes Nancy uncomfortable.
Despite all she went through after filing the report against Roske, Nancy doesn’t regret her actions.
“I’m so glad I said something,” she said. “In my heart, I know I’m the one who opened the investigation up.”
CONTACT POLICE
Anyone with information on the case is urged to call San Jose police detective Robert Dillon of the San Jose Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at (408) 277-4102. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (408) 947-STOP (7867).