Huntington Beach Teacher’s Friends Gather at Vigil

About 100 supporters, many of them children, held a candlelight vigil Monday night outside the home of Jeffrey Kent Atkinson, the Huntington Beach elementary school teacher accused of molesting six of his students.

“We are here to show our support,” said Sam Collins, one of the vigil’s organizers and a family friend whose children attend school with Atkinson’s children. “We just know the type of man he is. My kids have spent evenings here, and I trust him completely.”

Collins said that the people making the accusations against Atkinson appear to “have gotten caught up in the cynicism and hysteria of the time.”

Atkinson, 53, of Laguna Niguel, is scheduled to be arraigned today on six felony counts of child molestation involving girls between the ages of 8 and 10. A popular third-grade instructor at William T. Newland Elementary School, Atkinson has been a teacher for 24 years.

He was placed on administrative leave by the Fountain Valley Unified School District in August after district officials learned of allegations and a police investigation against him. Earlier this month, he turned himself in and was released on $25,000 bail.

Collins said that he and other family friends will hold vigils on the eve of every major court date relating to the case. “There is strength in our coming together as a community,” he said. “Our message is, ‘Don’t be so quick to judge.’ ”

Others at Monday’s gathering also said the case is based on a misunderstanding.

“I know Jeff well, and this is a travesty,” said Shirley Bailey, the mother of 10- and 12-year-old girls to whom Atkinson is godfather. “I’m appalled that this has happened to him. He is a very fine person, not the monster he’s been portrayed to be. If anything happened to my husband and I, I’d have no qualms about him raising my kids.”

Colleen Cherry, a longtime friend of the Atkinson family who attends church with them, agreed. “I’m here to emotionally support Jeff,” she said. “This is contrary to everything he’s done. He would do anything to help a kid.”

Friends said that Atkinson was at home during the vigil but was not available for comment.

“This has destroyed him because he cares so much about kids,” Cherry said. Atkinson’s attorney, Fred Anderson, said it was not surprising that friends organized the vigil.

“We have received numerous phone calls from parents of both boys and girls who have been his students in the past expressing support,” he said. “I think it is very unfair that he has been charged.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Laurie Hungerford, who is prosecuting the case, said that the vigil would not change her strategy. “The defendant has the right to do whatever he wants as long as he is not breaking the law,” she said. “I plan to proceed with my case through the court system.”