A former Toledo Middle School teacher accused of inappropriately touching at least nine students in 2021 is facing 11 counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation in Lewis County District Court.
Each charge is a gross misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of 364 days in prison.
The City of Toledo filed charges against the teacher, Ronald A. Schlauch, 59, on Aug. 23 after the Toledo Police Department investigated student complaints against Schlauch, according to court documents.
Schlauch was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on Sept. 11, 2023, after he failed to appear at a Sept. 8 arraignment hearing. He was released on Sept. 14 after he posted $11,100 bail. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Sept. 29. A pre-trial hearing was initially scheduled for Oct. 11 but was pushed out to Oct. 25.
The first report of Schlauch’s alleged behavior was made by a parent on Nov. 1, 2021, but the report that triggered the investigation was made by a female student on Nov. 12, 2021, according to court documents. That student reported Schlauch had “stopped her at the door and put his hand on her breast and squeezed it.” She said that on multiple occasions between Aug. 31 and Nov. 12, Schlauch had “rubbed her shoulders and would sometimes walk by her and either brush her hair over her shoulders or move it off her shoulders and make her uncomfortable,” according to court documents. The student “reported she saw this happen to other girls in her class.”
Several other female students “began to come forward and share their interactions with the defendant” after Toledo Middle School launched an internal investigation, according to court documents.
All nine of the female students listed in the charging documents reported Schlauch had, on at least one occasion between Aug. 31 and Nov. 12, 2021, rubbed their shoulders or touched their hair in a way that made them uncomfortable during class.
One student reported Schlauch’s fingers “would go under her shirt” on several occasions while he was rubbing her shoulders. That same student reported one instance where Schlauch allegedly “sat in front of her very close, started using his fingers to put her hair behind her ears, staring at her, and rubbing her knee,” according to court documents.
Another student reported an incident where Schlauch allegedly “leaned over and blew on her neck before walking away and chuckling.”
In interviews with Toledo police, several Toledo Middle School employees said multiple students, both male and female, reported instances where Schlauch made them uncomfortable before the Nov. 12 report that triggered the investigation.
One staff member reported a female student told her “she felt very creeped out by Schlauch because he would stare at her chest, and she was obviously distressed by the encounter.” The staff member said several other students told her “Schlauch would side-hug them and made them uncomfortable because he would place his hands on them,” according to court documents.
Describing the impact Schlauch’s alleged behavior had on her daughter, who is one of the named victims in the case, Elizabeth Buell said, “My daughter’s grades started dropping in (Schlauch’s) class. She was terrified.”
Buell ended up switching her daughter to a different school district, she said.
“I hoped that it would help, but something like that happening, it follows you around, it messes you up,” Buell said. “So no matter where she goes, it’s going to follow her. It’s going to make her not trust people — especially because (Schlauch) was in a position of power.”
While the Toledo Police Department launched its investigation into Schlauch’s alleged conduct on Nov. 12, 2021, the case went cold when the Toledo Police Department shut down on Aug. 1, 2022, as a result of then-police chief Sam Patrick leaving the department and the Toledo City Council voting down a possible policing contract the month prior.
The Toledo Police Department’s current police chief, Duane Garavais Lawrence, re-started the investigation after he took the job in October of 2022.
“If it wasn’t for this chief of police, nothing would have happened. It would have been dead in the water,” Buell said of the case on Tuesday.
“The Toledo Police Department is pleased to see applicable charges being filed in this case involving public trust positions. Every human has an absolute right to be safe in their community, workplace, school and home,” Garvais Lawrence said of the case on Tuesday.
“We just, we want justice. We want for schools to have good teachers and not bad teachers,” Buell said on behalf of the parents and students involved in the case.
The Toledo School District placed Schlauch on administrative leave when the investigation began in November 2021, according to a parent of one of the victims.
Schlauch started the 2022-23 school year as the seventh and eighth grade math teacher for Hines Middle School in Harney County, Oregon, according to reporting by a local news outlet. The school’s website listed Schlauch as a current teacher as of Thursday.
