The sad saga of Terrence Hagan, the Egan Intermediate School instructor accused of sex acts with high school students, serves as a grim reminder that even the highly regarded Los Altos School District is not safe from an occasional bad apple whose violation of trust with our children leaves a black mark that affects us all.
District officials take some comfort in the fact that Hagan’s alleged acts did not involve Egan students or take place on campus. But neither they nor we can feel anything but betrayed. This is a man who was trusted by his peers and his students. The loyalty of some students was so strong that one of the victims told police she had been raped by a stranger to hide the fact that she had had consensual sex with Hagan. Other students went to a Hagan court hearing with a sign that read, “I love you.”
Superintendent Marge Gratiot felt the district acted appropriately when rumors floated a year ago about Hagan acting too friendly around students. He had done nothing illegal, she said, but district officials had warned him about inappropriate behavior. They couldn’t fire him based on gossip and innuendo, as she put it, so they gave him a second chance. The district denied him tenure in March, effectively letting him go. Officials left it open-ended as to whether the early complaints led to Hagan’s tenure denial.
Hagan is the second Egan instructor in two years to be charged with a sex-related crime. Two years ago, former Egan coach Richard Dean Vargas pleaded guilty to selling child pornography out of his Milpitas home.
Some are quick to blame Egan officials for creating an environment of student independence in which the student is responsible for his or her own actions. Some parents have complained that they are often the last to know about campus situations. But we don’t see this as particularly relevant to the above cases.
We might take issue with the district for being less than forthcoming with the facts of the Hagan case. But when we come right down to it, it is Hagan himself who, through exercising apparent bad judgment, has cast a shadow of doubt, however slight, on his fellow teachers. His alleged sexual acts against impressionable teen girls is a disgrace, but so is his effect on his fellow instructors.
In the wake of something like this, some may begin to question whether other instructors should be suspected. This would be too bad, because the vast majority are dedicated professionals with no such skeletons in their closets.
Hagan’s alleged actions have hurt students, parents, teachers and administrators in a school district with a reputation for hiring the best.
ally assaulted, followed by admission that she had consensual sex with Hagan. What do we believe?
But Hagan’s early behavior, documented with complaints to police and the school district, point to a promising young teacher who did not exercise the best judgment around students. Hagan apparently acted like more of a student than a teacher, and while this endeared him to some students, such behavior could ultimately mean the end of his teaching career.
The students allegedly involved with Hagan made decisions, too. They are old enough to know that sexual relations with a teacher is wrong.
And what of the parents? One parent complained that her daughter went to a court hearing in support of Hagan. It is easy to blame teachers and schools, but where were the parents when some of this behavior was allegedly occurring?
The Hagan story is not only about an alleged violation of trust put in a teacher. It is about bad judgment – on everyone’s part.
View police showed up to arrest Hagan May 9, officials knew the early complaints had come back to haunt them.
Of greater concern to us was the district’s tendency to be less-than forthcoming with the facts of the case. It seemed to us the arrest put some officials on the defensive. Officials were reluctant to comment at first, but when they did, it was to assert that nothing “illegal” had happened involving any of their students on their property. Further, they seemed more concerned about the damage to reputations of staff members than the possible damage to students.
We allow that we all see quite clearly with hindsight, and that maybe district officials were justified in letting Hagan off with a warning a year back. We can understand that it is difficult for an outstanding school district like Los Altos’ to admit one of their own allegedly made some bad judgment calls and that they perhaps made one themselves.
But our experience has been that those organizations or individuals that have had suffered unflattering experiences, best cope with them by facing them head-on. To Egan’s credit, the principal did inform students immediately after the arrest. But we think the district office would have been better off confronting the facts surrounding Hagan without qualifiers and without defensiveness.
What Hagan was allegedly doing with minors early on was probably not illegal. But it was probably wrong. District officials should just say it was wrong, and move on.
