Tarantola, Te’o reinstated to Kirkland teaching positions
Published 10:28 am Monday, December 22, 2014
The two Juanita High School (JHS) football coaches, placed on administrative leave following an alleged sexual assault incident in October by C-team football players, have been fully reinstated by the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) to their respective teaching and coaching positions within the district.
“When employees are returned from leave, that indicates that the issues that caused the district to put the employees on leave no longer merit such a leave,” said Lake Washington School District spokesperson Kathryn Reith. “Generally, that means an investigation has established knowledge that satisfies the district’s concerns to a level that permits the leave to be rescinded.”
An email on Monday to parents of football players at JHS stated that Shaun Tarantola and Lele Te’o were reinstated late last week. They will return to the classroom in January following Winter Break, according to the distirct. Tarantola is a health and physical education teacher at the high school, while Te’o is the athletic director at Kamiakin Middle School and works security for the school.
LWSD announced their decision to place them on leave in early November in an email to parents, though it did not name the coaches specifically.
Five C-team players, all freshmen, are still under investigation by the Kirkland Police Department (KPD) for allegedly sexually assaulting a special-needs student on Oct. 22 in the school’s locker room. All five players were expelled from the school pending the result of the investigation after being arrested in connection with the incident. They have yet to be charged by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Reporter discovered recently that one of the students is now attending another school in the district and playing for one of the school’s sports teams. The Reporter has attempted to acquire records pertaining to the investigation through public records request from the KPD and LWSD but the records have been exempted due to concerns over juvenile witnesses involved, though some of the LWSD records requests have not yet been provided because the district is still gathering the information, according to LWSD spokesperson Kathryn Reith. She also told the Reporter that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law regarding student privacy, prohibits them from releasing information about students.
