Court Told of Teacher’s Offer of Extra Credit

A 17-year-old Camarillo High School student testified Friday that her drama teacher offered her extra credit last year if she would clean his house while dressed in a French maid’s costume.

The girl testified that she was 16 in the spring of 1989 when she was taking William Fisher’s drama class.

Fisher told her that “he knew a little place” where he could get the maid’s costume, she testified in Ventura County Municipal Court. Judge Herbert Curtis III frequently asked the girl to speak up so jurors could hear her, and at one point she began crying.

“He said, ‘Let’s just keep this our little secret,’ ” the girl testified. “He said my parents and the faculty might think it was a little strange.”

Fisher’s trial on eight misdemeanor charges entered its second day Friday. He was suspended from his job last November and arrested under a state law that makes it a crime to “annoy or molest a child under 18.” Eight female students complained that he inappropriately hugged them or made sexual remarks to them.

Fisher “gave me a card with his phone number on it and he told me not to give it to anyone,” the girl said. She testified that Fisher alluded to his extra credit offer several times that semester by saying things such as, “When are you coming over? My house is getting a little messy.”

One summer night in 1989, the girl was embarrassed when she bumped into Fisher while she was drunk, she testified. Fisher warned her not to ride with anyone who was drinking but said he would not turn her in, she testified. She said he added, “Now we both have a little secret.”

On Thursday, two former female students of Fisher’s testified that he asked them to look at photos of him wearing women’s clothing during a play.

On Friday, the 17-year-old student and another girl who graduated last spring from Camarillo High School testified that they too were asked to look at photos of Fisher in women’s clothing.

The 17-year-old graduate testified that Fisher made her feel uncomfortable during his drama and English classes. She said he hugged her “more like a boyfriend” than like a teacher and made her sit next to him at the back of the theater and hold his hand while other students were rehearsing skits.

“The way he put his arms around students, he didn’t act like a teacher, he acted like another student,” she said.

During one English class, “At the end of the quarter, he was giving out grades, and I knew I had credits for a D, but he gave me a C,” the girl testified.

“I said, ‘Thanks,’ and he said, ‘Just remember, Christmas comes once a year.’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and started to walk away. And he said, ‘Hold on, I get a hug for that,’ ” the girl testified. She did not hug him, she said.

The girl testified that she asked to be transferred out of Fisher’s class because “I thought he taught drama fine, I just didn’t like his attitudes with students, the way he touched me and made me feel.”

The girl listed her reason on the transfer request slip as “teacher-student conflict.”

“And he said, ‘I’m not going to sign that with that on there,’ and I never got out of there,” she testified.

The girl described a chaotic scene at school that took place shortly after Fisher’s arrest last fall: Students who refused to believe the charges against Fisher were “bawling their heads off, and they asked me to sign a petition” demanding that school officials reinstate him.

“Everyone in class was crying and cussing at the people” who filed the criminal complaints, the girl said. Although she was one of those who secretly complained, the girl said, she signed the petition to avoid repercussions from Fisher’s supporters.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends over this,” she testified. Fisher had pleaded guilty to four counts last June but changed his plea to not guilty after learning that he could be sentenced to jail.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Testimony is expected to last up to two weeks.