East Troy teacher sexual assault case; parents allege cover-up
East Troy - An East Troy middle school band teacher is charged with inappropriately touching at least four female students. Now, their parents are speaking about it publicly for the first time.
For 20 years, John Rash taught music in East Troy. According to school disciplinary records, he harassed and intimated students and had trouble managing his emotions. But it's what the former band conductor is accused of doing with his hands that left sixth and seventh-grade girls in tears.
Now, their parents say it's not just Mr. Rash who let them down.
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"It’s been a difficult five years for all of us," said the father of a former middle school student in East Troy. He is one of four parents who agreed to talk to the FOX6 Investigators on camera – but with their identities disguised. That's because their daughters are all legally considered to be victims in a child sexual assault case filed against Rash in March.
FOX6 will identify them only as Parents A, B, C and D.
Parents of all four victims in Rash's criminal sexual assault case sat down with FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn in May 2023.
In January 2018, their daughters – then 12 and 13 years old – told their school counselor a secret.
"Our daughter had been touched in the chest," said Parent A.
"Said she was being touched by the band teacher," said Parent B.
"The band teacher was touching her," said Parent D.
"(She) didn’t know it was happening to anyone else," said Parent C.
For the next four years, they say, the school district tried to keep things quiet.
"We were all frustrated, fuming, angry," said Parent A. "We couldn't believe it."
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Rash "vehemently denies" any sexual touching, but that's not why these parents are finally speaking out.
"You trusted the school," said FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.
"I did," said Parent D. "And I should not have."
The first accusation surfaced in 2017 when a trombone player said Rash touched her chest during small group lessons, where the band teacher would sit directly between students.
"He'd grab the slide," said Parent B, "and he would run it back and forth as his hand and arm were brushing across her breast."
Parent B said the school counselor, Krista Iserloth, told both her and her daughter that she and Principal Peter Syens had reviewed video surveillance of the touching incident and determined that it "looked like an accident."
"The school staff is telling you, we checked the video," said Polcyn.
"Correct," said Parent B.
"It was just an innocent thing, nothing to worry about."
"Correct."
"And that reassured you."
"It reassured us. You believe when your kids go to school, they're safe."
A few weeks later, other students came forward with similar stories.
Rash's accusers say he would sit between his students during small group lessons, then brush against his hands against their breasts when conducting or demonstrating proper instrument location.
"He would run his hand across her breast when he was moving her flute," said Parent C.
"He would put his hands out to both girls on each side," Parent D described, "and hold the back of his hand up against their chest and tell them to hold the note. Hoooold."
The girls said Rash touched their chests, thighs, shoulders and hair.
"Lots of different ways that he would touch them, and he didn't need to," said Parent C.
Over and over again.
"Two to three times per lesson," said Parent C.
"Three to four times per band lesson," said Parent B.
"Five to ten times per lesson," said Parent D.
"It was enough to make her feel like it was wrong," said Parent C. "And in your gut, you know when something’s wrong."
They also accused Rash of telling inappropriate jokes, asking about their dating lives, and making them especially uneasy on a class trip to a water park.
"He asked the whole class to raise their hand, ‘Which girls are wearing bikinis?’" said Parent B.
"How did the students react to that?" asked Polcyn.
"It made my daughters very uncomfortable," said Parent B.
East Troy Middle School
In February 2018, Syens concluded in an internal memo that Rash had "boundary issues," removed him from a leadership role and ordered him to read a book on "mindfulness." But the principal never shared that with parents.
"He said the investigation is ongoing and he wasn’t allowed to say anything further," said Parent A.
According to the district's own investigative records, new touching allegations surfaced in the 2018-2019 school year. In March 2019, the school disciplined Rash again and placed him on unpaid leave for three days. But just like the first time, no one told the families.
"Weeks went by, months went by," Parent A said. "At that point, we thought all hope was lost. Nothing else was going to be done about this."
In May 2019, one parent asked the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to do an independent investigation. The next month, DPI opened a case. Once again, however, the families heard nothing.
"Time just kept going and going," said Parent D.
Thanks in part to a shortage of licensing investigators, DPI sat on the case for another two years.
"We moved on with our lives," said Parent A. "We didn’t think anything was going to happen."
It wasn't until the summer of 2021 that a new DPI investigator finally interviewed the girls, found "probable cause" Rash had engaged in "immoral conduct," and notified East Troy Community School District of its intent to revoke Rash's teaching license. What the school district did next left parents stunned.
"I couldn’t believe what I was reading," Parent A said.
In response to DPI's notice, the district wrote a letter informing DPI it had "no record" of any student reporting touches in the "breast area." It goes on to say that DPI's September 16, 2021, letter is "the first we heard of these allegations."
"They’re basically calling our daughters liars," Parent A said.
Rash is charged with four counts of Repeated Sexual Assault of a Child in Walworth County Case Number 2023CF120
In a letter to FOX6 News "augmenting" a public records request, the district explained "the students who used the term 'chest'" were actually referring to their "shoulders and clavicles" – not their breasts.
"[My daughter] doesn't know what a clavicle is," said Parent B. "She didn't at 12 years old. She did not use the term clavicle. She probably used the term 'boob.'"
If there ever was any question about which body part the girls' meant to indicate, DPI removed all doubt in June 2019 when it informed East Troy it was investigating Rash for "brushing over the breasts" of female students. The 2019 letter was addressed to District Administrator Christopher Hibner.
"You have a letter from DPI in 2019 that says they were investigating the allegations of touching breasts," Polcyn asked Dr. Hibner before a recent board meeting. "So, how was that a surprise two years later?"
Dr. Hibner declined to answer.
"I'm going to let the documents be clarified out at a different point in time," he said.
"I think they’re just continuing to try to cover it up," said Parent A.
The distinction is more than just semantics. After all, school staff members and administrators are considered "mandatory reporters" under state law. If school officials knew a staff member was accused of sexual misconduct, they would have been required to report that to police. However, the district did not tell police about the allegations until the fall of 2021. They did not even tell the school resource officer, Aaron Hackett.
"He works in the school every day," said Parent A. "They never told him about this."
When DPI finally informed police in 2021, parents say Officer Hackett dropped another bombshell. Remember that surveillance camera that showed the touching was "an accident?" Parent B said Officer Hackett told her there are no surveillance cameras in East Troy classrooms. The district now disputes the claim that either Iserloth or Syens ever mentioned a surveillance camera at all.
"When we confronted them on it," Parent B said, "they called us liars. They called our students liars, they called us liars."
We asked Dr. Hibner to give the district's side in a sit-down interview, but he said it wasn't the right time.
"Is this a way for you to dodge answering these questions?" Polcyn asked.
"No," Hibner replied. "I just want to respect the entire process."
For Rash, the disciplinary process is over. He resigned and surrendered his teaching license in 2022. His criminal case is ongoing.
FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn attempts to speak with East Troy District Administrator Christopher Hibner before a board meeting on June 12, 2023.
"I believe he’s a disgusting human being," said Parent C.
While Mr. Rash may have conducted his last marching band, the families of the victims in his child sexual assault case say he's not the only one who needs to face the music.
"They ignored these girls," Parent A said. "Our daughters."
The four middle school victims in the criminal case are now high school graduates.
In a statement to FOX6 News, DPI said staffing capacity did have an impact on the delay in investigating this case. However, DPI also blames the East Troy Community School District for investigative findings that "did not lead the DPI to prioritize this case above other cases."
"Knowing what our agency now knows," writes DPI spokesman Chris Bucher, "we should have prioritized this educator misconduct investigation differently."
You can read DPI's full statement below, along with a brief statement emailed to FOX6 Investigators by Dr. Hibner.
In 2021, East Troy Police wrote that parents wanted school staff and administrators to be charged with a violation of the state's mandatory reporting law. East Troy Police referred that question to the district attorney's office for an opinion in 2021. Deputy District Attorney James Sempf told FOX6 he cannot comment on the status of that question due to the "pending nature of the litigation."
Rash did not respond to a request for comment. He is currently free on $1,000 cash bond. His next court date is Aug. 7.
Messages to Krista Iserloth and Peter Syens were not returned.
Statement from DPI Spokesman Chris Bucher:
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction conducts many educator misconduct investigations throughout the year. As part of that process, our agency relies on a number of factors when determining investigative priority. In this case, the district’s investigation and conclusions did not lead the DPI to prioritize this case above other cases. Our staffing capacity at the time required the DPI to make difficult decisions as to which cases would receive immediate attention, and which would have to wait. Following staffing changes in the summer of 2021, the DPI started interviewing the students in this case and immediately realized this is a high priority investigation. Ultimately, the DPI referred its investigative findings to law enforcement. Knowing what our agency now knows given our multiple interviews with students and a thorough investigation, we should have prioritized this educator misconduct investigation much differently.
Statement from Dr. Christopher Hibner, East Troy district administrator:
While we are disheartened to learn about recent accusations against the District, we continue to recognize our legal obligation to protect student confidentiality and others involved. Therefore, even though we would welcome the opportunity to provide detailed information to respond to some of the statements / accusations regarding this matter, we will not comment to respect the pending criminal case.