Handling of School Sex Case Defended : Investigation: Board president says allegations against teacher were dealt with appropriately.

The school board president Friday defended a decision by Sunny Hills High School officials not to inform police about complaints in September that teacher George M. Fairchild had sexually harassed a teen-age girl.

The allegations “were dealt with at an appropriate time and in an appropriate manner,” said Barbara R. Kilponen, board president of the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

Fairchild, 51, was charged Tuesday with eight counts of felony child molestation, five misdemeanor counts of child molestation and two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery. Police began the investigation in May after receiving a complaint from a girl that she had been molested by the veteran science and math teacher in September.

School officials, however, knew about the allegation shortly after it took place, but did not report it to police, according to police records and school officials.

Between September and the time police began their investigation, four other girls were molested by Fairchild, according to allegations in a search warrant filed in the case.

Kilponen said school officials believed the September case had been settled to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

“Let’s not just say school officials are at fault,” Kilponen said. “The parents also have responsibility.”

She said that, in general, when school administrators receive a sexual-harassment complaint, all concerned parties are contacted. The administrator does not call school district officials or police unless asked to do so by the parents.

“Nothing can be initiated without parent support and willingness to go to the next level,” Kilponen said.

The parents of the girl could not be reached for comment Friday, but the search warrant states that, “a formal complaint was not filed with school Principal George Giokaris as it was feared that” the victim “would receive retaliation for the complaint as well as further mental duress placed on her.”

The girl told police that she complained to Giokaris in September after Fairchild commented on the size of her breasts and grabbed her midriff, according to the search warrant.

Giokaris told the girl that he would talk with Fairchild, the warrant states. Soon after, Fairchild contacted the girl in a school hallway and said, “I can’t believe you did this. I could lose my job. You should have come to me first. I can’t be alone with girls now.”

During the same month, the search warrant states, Fairchild commented on the size of another girl’s breasts and asked her, “Are you protected? I’m worried about you getting pregnant.”

The warrant does not make clear whether the girl contacted school officials about the alleged comment at the time it occurred.

A 15-year-old girl told police that in February Fairchild grabbed her around the waist and touched her breasts. She also told police that Fairchild had expressed a desire to see her in a bathing suit. The search warrant does not say whether she informed the school.

However, near the end of the school year, school officials interviewed a third girl who said Fairchild had grabbed her crotch in May, and a fourth girl who told them Fairchild had commented on her body in April, according to the warrant. Soon after, they were informed of the police investigation and in June, met with Fairchild, who denied the allegations.

But Fairchild “did admit to” school officials that “he had said things, but he never meant them to be sexual,” the warrants says.

Police also interviewed two other graduates of the high school, both of whom confirmed that they had received similar treatment from Fairchild, the warrant says. One told police that the teacher would give her answers to tests and homework and propositioned her for sex, according to police and the warrant.

Fairchild, who has been with the school district 28 years and was also a basketball coach at La Habra High School, is vacationing in the Caribbean and is expected back Wednesday. He is aware of the allegations against him, police say.