Joseph Billera, Comments From The Newspaper
Years before Joe Billera's arrest, parents and students had complained of his conduct with his young students.
The Statesman Journal Newspaper of Salem, Oregon on January 16th, 2005:
"S-K district knew about complaints of Billera's conduct with students
Some parents expressed concern about the teacher four years before his arrest for sexual abuse
TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ | STATESMAN JOURNAL
Joe Billera (left) answers to charges against him in December, with his lawyer, Paul Ferder. Some parents had accused Billera of inappropriate behavior with students at least four years before his arrest.
TRACY LOEW
Statesman Journal
January 16, 2005
At least a half-dozen Salem-Keizer School District officials were told years ago about Houck Middle School band teacher Joe Billera's inappropriate behavior with female students, documents obtained by the Statesman Journal show.
But until Billera's arrest on sex abuse charges in October, the district never placed Billera on leave, never hired an independent investigator and never reported the complaints to the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. District officials say all are standard procedures when a teacher is accused of serious misconduct.
Billera was disciplined after one flurry of complaints in fall 2001. District officials said that teacher privacy rules prevent them from disclosing what that discipline was, but it did not involve any time away from the classroom.
Some parents say their concerns were ignored or mishandled and they fault the district for failing to piece together what now appears to be a pattern of inappropriate behavior.
"They were overlooking it because he was such a good teacher," parent Tim Haburn said. "This has been going on for years."
Billera, 30, recently pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four former students, beginning a few months after he was hired in 1997. His sentencing is set for Wednesday. He resigned from his job Jan. 6.
District officials refused to disclose information about complaints against Billera, citing teacher and student privacy laws. The newspaper filed an appeal of that decision under Oregon's public-records law, and Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau ordered the district to make some of the documents public.
Several parents complained
Review of the documents and extensive interviews reveal:
A number of parents say they complained about an incident in late 2000 in which a 13-year-old student was sitting on Billera's lap, with a blanket wrapped around the pair, at a school sporting event.
A year later, in notes of a telephone conversation with a concerned parent, then-employee relations director George Gray wrote, "I told (the parent) that the matter had been investigated; that it is not appropriate for student to sit on teacher's lap."
However, the district has no other record of the complaints or of any investigation, said Joe Weiss, the district's human resources director.
"I sat and talked to (then-Houck Principal) Pat Mack about it," parent Haburn said.
Mack was principal of Houck from the time it opened in 1995 until her retirement in June 2003. She could not be reached for comment.
Billera has admitted having sexual intercourse with the girl, and inappropriately touching another, during that time period. He also has admitted sexually abusing a third girl before that time.
The district disciplined Billera in late 2001 after several students said he had threatened them for gossiping about his close relationship with the same 13-year-old girl.
In a written complaint to Mack, Robert Ogan, the parent of one of the threatened students, said he thought that the gossip was based on fact.
He described seeing Billera out with the child on a Saturday night at a nonschool function with no chaperone. The complaint also described the lap-sitting incident.
"I am still not certain why rumors are becoming an issue after two years of ongoing concern," Ogan wrote. "It looks to me like people are only saying what they see."
The documents show that Ogan also discussed his concerns with Gray, Superintendent Kay Baker, and Mark Davalos, who then was assistant director of secondary education. Davalos and Gray no longer work for the district.
Baker wrote a letter to Ogan saying that she had referred his concerns to Weiss.
Weiss said that teacher privacy rules prevent him from saying what discipline Billera received. State law allows school districts to set their own rules for access to employee personnel files. Salem-Keizer's contract with its teachers union calls for those files, including discipline records, to be closed.
Billera was not placed on leave during the investigation. Weiss would not say whether that was because officials did not consider the complaints serious, because they chose not to follow district policy, or for another reason.
In June, Salem police investigated a complaint that Billera may have sexually assaulted a student, a charge that Billera now has admitted.
The complainant, a local attorney, was the parent of an older student in whom the victim had confided. Police closed their investigation after interviewing the victim, who denied having a sexual relationship with Billera.
Salem Police Officer Joe Johnson interviewed the victim at North Salem High School. She told Johnson that Billera recently had confronted her at her boyfriend's home, called her a "whore," and threatened her.
Although district policy calls for the principal to be notified when police interview a student at school, in this case, police chose not to do that, Weiss said. They arranged the interview through school resource officer Clem Spenner. School resource officers are police department employees who are based in the schools.
Johnson completed his report on June 21, but it was not forwarded to the district until after Billera's arrest in October. Johnson did not respond to requests for an interview.
Salem Police Lt. Jim Anglemier said the report was not immediately sent to the school district because Johnson was transferred to a different division, and his replacement was quickly assigned higher-priority cases.
Weiss said that no one at the district had knowledge of the police investigation until after Billera was arrested in October. He said the police report definitely would have prompted the district to do its own investigation.
The victim also told police that she thought Billera had been investigated in 2000 after giving private, full-body massages to herself and another girl at school. She said the other girl's parents had complained, but no one had ever questioned her about the massages.
District officials say they have no record of that investigation.
"We have no knowledge of any of those complaints," Weiss said.
Billera grew up in Salem
Billera grew up in Salem and graduated from North Salem High School, where he was drum major of the marching band.
He was identified as a future band teacher for Salem schools, and studied band teaching at the University of Oregon. He graduated in 1996.
Billera spent the past seven years as the director of the award-winning Houck band program, developing perhaps the largest and best middle school band program in the state. He also was assistant director of the North High band program, and assisted with McNary's band program.
Billera won the Crystal Apple Award for teaching excellence in 2001 and was chosen as the 2002 Music Educator of the Year by the Oregon Symphony Association of Salem.
He worked for the University of Oregon School of Music band camp for grades eight through 12, serving as recreation and housing director.
Billera has been married for five years. He has a young son and another child on the way.
He was previously married, for less than three months in 1995, when he and his spouse were 21. Divorce files show the couple asked for an emergency dissolution due to irreconcilable differences. There were no children.
Last week, Billera agreed to resign in exchange for the district providing insurance coverage through the birth of his second child, expected in late March. The separation agreement saves the district the time and expense of a termination under Oregon's Fair Dismissal Law. Billera also agreed to never again apply for a position in the district.
Superintendent Kay Baker sent a copy of a Statesman Journal story about Billera's arrest to the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission on Nov. 1. The commission is investigating but will not take action until the criminal matter is resolved, director Vickie Chamberlain said. Neither the district nor parents had filed any previous complaints with the state.
Billera has been in jail since his arrest Oct. 29. He initially was on suicide watch, and at his request currently is in protective custody, meaning that he is isolated from other inmates.
That's not unusual for someone who has never been in jail and is facing child sex-abuse charges, said Deputy Kevin Rau of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
In late December, under a plea agreement, Billera admitted to 10 of the 15 charges in exchange for a sentence of six to 12 years. The statutory maximum is 53 years.
Deputy District Attorney Darin Tweedt said he will try to persuade the judge to impose a longer sentence. If the judge agrees, Billera could choose to change his plea and request a trial.
Billera's lawyer, Paul Ferder, said he hopes to persuade the judge that Billera can be rehabilitated.
"Our goal is acknowledging there was some inappropriate behavior but that he's a very good teacher," Ferder said. "He basically had a relationship with a couple of the gals. The other ones are getting a little publicity out of it."
Billera, through Ferder, declined a request for an interview.
tloew@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6779
Teacher complaints
Here are excerpts from two documents referring to complaints about former Houck Middle School band teacher Joe Billera. The Salem-Keizer School District refused to release the documents until ordered to do so by Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau.
From the Oct. 22, 2001, notes of George Gray, then-employee relations director, of a conversation with a parent:
"It was swept under the rug by Principal ... . Child was interrogated by the teacher and accused of spreading lies. Another parent's child pulled out of class by teacher ... . Some other parents and I are fed up. We're going to (Teacher Standards and Practices Commission). This will end up in the newspaper probably."
From an Oct. 9, 2001, letter Kay Baker wrote responding to a parent's complaints:
"This letter is in response to our recent telephone conversation in which you raised several questions regarding licensed staff.
"While the district does not have a policy concerning the specific behavior you described, District Policies and Rules GAM, section 4 states, 'Each employee shall observe good ethical and desirable practices in his/her services to the district.'
"Additionally, all licensed staff must conform to the professional standards of conduct as defined by Teachers Standards and Practices Commission, the body that governs teacher licensure in Oregon. These standards are set forth in the Oregon Administrative Rules 584, Division 020, as the Standards for Competent and Ethical Performance of Oregon Educators. I have enclosed excerpts of these documents for your review.
"I hope this will address your concerns and questions.
"As concerns of this nature may develop into a personnel matter, I have referred the issue you raised to Joe Weiss, director of human resources for further review."
Records requested
On Nov. 4, 2004, the Statesman Journal filed a request under the state's open-records law for a copy of Joe Billera's personnel file. The district denied the request because its contract with its teachers union protects that information, as allowed by state law.
On Nov. 12, 2004, the Statesman Journal requested information about complaints kept outside Billera's personnel file. On Dec. 6, the district denied that request. The newspaper appealed, and on Dec. 20 Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau ordered the district to provide the newspaper with some of those records, which it did on Dec. 27.
The newspaper also has requested records of all sexual misconduct complaints filed against district employees. The district has said it would be costly and time-consuming to comply with that request.
District officials have not responded to a Jan. 3 request for records of complaints about George Deines, who recently pleaded no contest to harassment in connection with a student. The student has brought a civil suit against the district, saying that her complaints about Deines were ignored.
Beglau said that police arrest and investigation reports connected with the Billera case will be sealed permanently because they involve child abuse."
and
"Billera sentencing
Houck Middle School band teacher Joe Billera is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.
Billera, 30, was arrested Oct. 29 on two counts of first-degree sex abuse. On Nov. 12, he was indicted on 13 additional sex-related charges.
They involve allegations from four female former students regarding incidents between June 1998 and July 2002. Billera has pleaded guilty to 10 counts. He resigned from the district, in lieu of dismissal, effective Jan. 6. He remains in the Marion County jail.
Billera pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree rape, one count of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, three counts of second-degree sodomy and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor.
He also had been charged with one additional count of first-degree sexual abuse, two additional counts of second-degree sexual abuse and two additional counts of second-degree sodomy. Under a plea agreement, those charges would be dropped and no additional charges could be made in connection with the four named victims."
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