Students Accuse Veteran Teacher of Sexual Abuse : Education: The suspect has been transferred from Gompers, and authorities are also investigating whether the school’s principal failed to properly report allegations.

A veteran teacher at Gompers Secondary School has been accused of sexual abuse by several students and last week was transferred to a non-classroom position off campus while authorities investigate the allegations, it was learned Friday.

Authorities are also investigating whether Gompers Principal Marie Thornton, already under fire for purported management shortcomings at the Southeast San Diego school, violated state law by failing to properly report the allegations.

Police expect to complete their investigation sometime next week and present their findings to the district attorney for possible prosecution.

San Diego police supervisors in the child-abuse unit said Friday that detectives have been at the school this week. A source at the school said Friday that “the place has been crawling with police” and that the campus was “abuzz” concerning the case.

“We are investigating allegations of child molestation at Gompers, and a subject of the investigation is a teacher, for having committed sexual molestation,” said Lt. Jerry D. Moody of the child abuse squad.

Tina Dyer, legal counsel for the San Diego Unified School District, confirmed Friday that the teacher has been moved from Gompers to a non-teaching position at the Instructional Materials Center in Linda Vista.

“When a serious allegation is made, our procedure is to remove the employee away from youngsters pending outcome of the investigation, because of the sensitivity,” Dyer said.

City schools Supt. Tom Payzant said Friday that he understands police have talked to a number of people, including the principal, “but I don’t know what the results of the investigation are as yet.”

Both police and top district officials declined to comment on specifics, but several sources within the district, who asked not to be identified, provided additional details.

As many as 30 potential victims over several years may be involved, one well-placed source said. The source also said that the teacher was counseled several years ago at Gompers in connection with a previous case of suspected abuse.

Moody said Friday that the number has not been determined.

“We won’t know for sure until we finish our investigation how many may have been victims,” Moody said.

One central office source said Thornton did not immediately report the accusations when she received them in late March, even though state law says that a principal or other staff number “must report” suspected child abuse “by telephone immediately, or as soon as practically possible,” and follow up with a written report within 36 hours.

Both school police and the county Integrated Child Protective Services must be called under the law. Otherwise, the principal or staff person can be subject to criminal misdemeanor prosecution and, if convicted, face a six-month jail term, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Another source said two students took allegations to Thornton and that, before contacting police, Thornton confronted the teacher during a meeting at which the two students were present. The education code states, in underlined passages, that “school personnel must keep in mind that investigation and suspected child abuse is the responsibility of the child welfare unit and, when appropriate, assessment is made by Nurse Intervention Task Force; it is not the responsibility of school personnel.”

The same source said parents of the students called district school officials, irate about the confrontation.

Although Thornton reportedly notified the Gompers school police officer the following day, Child Protective Services--which intervenes to make sure that students are adequately counseled after suspected child abuse--was not notified until almost a week later by an assistant principal, a third source said.

Thornton could not be reached late Friday for comment. A Gompers source said that, during a staff meeting Wednesday, Thornton ordered all male school employees not to be in any room alone with a female as a precaution during the investigation.

When state law was changed two years ago to tighten reporting and investigating requirements, the school district made a major effort, including the production of a film, to educate principals and teachers about their responsibilities.

“We started this huge in-service of the staff,” a ranking school official said of a training program, “because of our historical experiences at schools when people would not report allegations because they would say, ‘Gee, the guy looked so nice, we couldn’t believe that he did it.’ But the law was changed so there is no discretion now.”

Thornton has been under fire for her role in handling a February student demonstration at Gompers, the award-winning, high-powered math/science/computer magnet school. Payzant said earlier this week that Thornton planned poorly for the demonstration, to which police responded with more than 40 officers. A violent confrontation was narrowly avoided.

Key board sources told The Times earlier this week that Thornton will receive a written reprimand and that district trustees have discussed removing her, despite continued strong community support. Thornton has backed Payzant’s renewal plan for bringing more black neighborhood students to the magnet school--designed to attract whites to integrate the minority school--but she has been unable to coalesce a faculty divided over whether the plan would dilute the school’s quality.