TACOMA, Wash. — A former student at Mount Tahoma High School has filed a lawsuit against Tacoma Public Schools over alleged sexual and physical harassment she faced while in the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC).
The former cadet, only identified by her initials in the lawsuit, claims in the lawsuit that the former instructor of JROTC at Mount Tahoma, Galen House, subjected her to a "pattern of sexual abuse, physical assault and sexual harassment."
House is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but the complaint focuses on his conduct toward the plaintiff during the two school years she was enrolled in the program.
According to the filing, House made comments about the former student's physical appearance, including once about her "upper chest area."
House also made a comment to the plaintiff that he was "suffering," the filing said. When asked why, House allegedly told the former student it was getting increasingly difficult for him to wait to have sex with her. House then told the plaintiff a specific date on the calendar "he set for intercourse," per the lawsuit.
The former student says she told Mount Tahoma Assistant Principal Andrea Pham about the conversation with House, but nothing changed according to the lawsuit.
About a week after the conversation with Pham, the lawsuit says House aggressively approached the student in a school hallway. House allegedly grabbed her backpack and pulled her backward while shouting at her, which was captured on two different school cameras according to the legal filing.
The student did not return to school for a month as her parents felt they no longer could trust the administration to protect their daughter. The lawsuit alleges that Pham confessed to the mother of the former student that she had "dropped the ball."
In addition to the harassment claims, the lawsuit argues that the school did not disclose the dangers for young girls who take part in JROTC programs. The student joined JROTC because of its potential to help partially or fully pay for her to go to college, something the lawsuit states is now "a pipe dream."
The former student "will need continual help" for the remainder of her life to deal with the "mental and emotional harm" from the former instructor.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages to be determined at trial along with legal fees.
KING 5 has reached out to Tacoma Public Schools for a response.
