SCHOOLS

New complaint of ‘inappropriate conduct’ emerges against former McNary choir teacher

The leader of Oregon’s second largest school district on Tuesday called for changes to state law to make it easier to sanction teachers who prey on students. 

Salem-Keizer School District Superintendent Andrea Castañeda spoke out after disclosing there was a new report from a McNary High School graduate alleging “inappropriate conduct” by the school’s former choir teacher.

Castañeda said in a news conference on Tuesday that the district is investigating a graduate’s complaint about Joshua Rist, who taught at McNary from 2016 to 2022. He is currently on paid administrative leave from his job as a music teacher at Kalapuya Elementary School, where he’s worked since August 2022. 

The new complaint comes after two McNary graduates last month sued Rist and the school district, alleging Rist groomed and manipulated them while they were students, flattering them and earning their trust before steering their conversations toward sexual and personal topics. The conduct the students outlined occurred over several years, escalating after each student graduated, according to the lawsuit.

“Based on what I know today, I do not believe Mr. Rist should be allowed to serve students in Salem-Keizer Public Schools or anywhere else,” Castañeda said. She became superintendent July 1.

Rist did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email from Salem Reporter seeking comment about the new investigation. Court records do not list an attorney representing him in the civil suit.

Castañeda personally removed him from teaching at Kalapuya, saying in a note to parents that she made her decision after reviewing information and reports about Rist’s conduct, including a stipulated order from the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. The order showed that Rist admitted to having an “inappropriate relationship with students.”

“To the degree that is legally under my control. I will not reinstate him in a student-facing role,” she said.

She said there was no evidence he had abused students in the short time he was at Kalapuya.

Castañeda declined to provide details about the new complaint, but said it came from a McNary graduate on Oct. 2 and covered conduct during the same timeframe as the two included in the lawsuit.

The Teacher Standards and Practices Commission opened a new investigation into Rist Oct. 3, said Cristina Edgar, director of professional standards and practices.

“If this complaint proves credible, includes evidence of blurred or cross boundaries, and has the same characteristics as the past complaints. Salem-Keizer Public Schools will take more bold action. And we will do that despite the legal uncertainty of our ability to do that in this moment,” Castañeda said.

Castañeda’s public response to the lawsuit drew criticism Tuesday from Tyler Scialo-Lakeberg, president of the Salem-Keizer Education Association. She said she was concerned about due process for Rist and other teachers accused of misconduct.

“The investigation needs to happen without interference to get at the truth,” she said.

She said the union doesn’t condone abuse or grooming, but that district officials typically wait for an investigation to conclude before making public statements.

“To have a district leader make statements that compromise that investigation and convict him in the arena of public (opinion), we’re very disappointed in that,” she said in an interview with Salem Reporter.

Castañeda on Tuesday shared a years-long history of complaints and investigations into the teacher, saying the district has been unable to fire Rist and that other agencies have been unable to hold him accountable. She blamed “loopholes” in state law and rules prohibiting sexual contact with students, including for 90 days after a student graduates or leaves high school.

Based on her review of Rist’s history, Castañeda said he “attempted to advance deep relationships with students into more clearly romantic and sexual forms only after they were no longer technically students in the eyes of the law. The fact that a teacher can legally do this with recent high school graduates is ethically and morally unacceptable.”

The district first received a report about “possible misconduct” involving Rist in June 2018, according to a timeline the district provided.

Castañeda said that complaint alleged similar behavior to that described in the lawsuit by Rist’s two former students.

Following a district investigation into that allegation, then-McNary Principal Erik Jespersen had a “directed conversation” with Rist to address concerns about his performance or conduct, ​​Castañeda said.

In May 2021, the two students now suing Rist and the school district complained about Rist’s’s behavior to the district, prompting a new round of investigations. 

The Keizer Police Department, Teacher Standards and Practices Commission and state Department of Human Services all investigated Rist.

In an Oct. 15, 2021,  letter, Marion County Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver told the Keizer detective she was not pursuing criminal charges. She wrote that the most serious crimes he could be accused of were harassment or third-degree sexual abuse.

“There is insufficient evidence to prove either crime,” Suver wrote.

The Deparment of Human Services concluded in October 2021 the allegations against Rist were “unfounded” for sexual abuse, spokesman Jake Sunderland said.

The state teacher commission in January 2022 told district officials it was dismissing sexual conduct allegations and instead charging Rist with professional misconduct, according to the district’s timeline.

Melissa Goff, the commission’s interim executive director, said Rist requested a due process hearing following the charge, and investigation and legal negotiations continued.

In a licensing order signed in June, Rist admitted “gross neglect of duty” with the two students, saying he blurred boundaries by discussing sexual topics and his personal life with them.

His license was suspended for 60 days.

“This was expressly negotiated between TSPC and Rist’s attorney to have the suspension fall during the summer months, which would prevent the district from taking employment action against Rist for failing to have a teaching license,” the district timeline said. 

Castañeda said former Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry decided in August 2022 to place Rist at Kalapuya Elementary School. He was transferred involuntarily, and Kalapuya was selected because the school had an experienced principal who district leaders believed could better supervise him, and because the environment at an elementary school is “dramatically different” than a middle or high school.

Rist returned to Kalapuya in the fall of 2023 for his second year after serving his suspension.

“The district was doing the best they could with the information that they had at the time,” Castañeda said, in light of “our lack of ability to bring more significant job action at that time.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Jan. 21, 2025, to re-embed the video Castañeda made about the allegations against Joshua Rist. As part of Rist’s December 2024 resignation agreement with the school district, the district agreed to delete the video from its website and social media channels. Salem Reporter obtained a copy through a public records request and uploaded it to YouTube to preserve it as part of the public record. The original video was posted here.

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.