An Oregon middle school teacher was awarded $301,000 after she filed a lawsuit claiming she was sexually harassed by her male students.
Susan Anglada Bartley, 46, sued Portland Public Schools in 2023 because she said it didn’t do enough to address accusations she brought forward.
Her grievances included when a group of seventh-grade boys at Kellogg Middle School recorded her buttocks on a cell phone and shouted ‘sexy, sexy, sexy’ at her, the lawsuit, obtained by Oregon Live detailed.
That incident, which occurred in 2022, was also recorded on school surveillance cameras and one of the boys involved said he only participated in the antics because he was dared to do so for $5, an email to Anglada Bartley from the school principal said, according to the legal filing.
Anglada Bartley said she experienced a slew of other inappropriate interactions with male students from 2021 to 2024, including when an eighth-grade boy yelled at her during class that he wanted her to call him by his preferred pronouns, which was a sexually explicit term, documents stated.
During a separate incident, that same student shoved his cell phone down the front of his pants when Anglada Bartley tried to confiscate it from him for having it out in the open, the filing continued, according to Oregon Live.
On multiple occasions, boys made grunting noises that she described as ‘somewhere between the bathroom and the bedroom’ when the teacher turned her back on the class, she said.
In 2023, students said their peers whistled and moaned while Anglada Bartley taught, according to notes taken by the school’s principal, the lawsuit stated.
Susan Anglada Bartley, 46, sued Portland Public Schools in 2023 claiming she was sexually harassed by male students. She settled the lawsuit for $301,000
According to Anglada Bartley, who taught in the district since 2003, she was not the only one being harassed, as other females and LGBTQ+ students were taking the brunt of it as well, the complaint stated.
Despite telling administrators they ‘need to address this head-on,’ Bartley said her mission was not to ‘blame’ the boys, but to have the district teach them they need to have respect and act appropriately.
‘Children need to be taught boundaries,’ Bartley told the outlet.
She was set to go to trial this week, but it was canceled after the district agreed to settle her $55,000 lawsuit. About 40 percent of her payout will go toward her legal fees, the Oregon Live reported.
She also agreed to resign from her role as an eighth-grade language arts teacher as part of the settlement. Bartley hasn’t worked there since October 2024 – when she said the district launched an attack on her after she decided to speak up, per the filing.
The details of her allegations were documented in more than 250 pages of letters, emails, excerpts from depositions and declarations, the outlet reported.
They not only shed light on Anglada Bartley’s alleged interactions, but also highlighted what other females, including her colleagues have experienced, according to the lawsuit.
One female teacher reported to administrators that she was hit in the buttocks by a male student, while another informed them that several girls reported ‘an immense amount of frustration and distress from their experiences being sexually harassed and assaulted by male students at Kellogg.’
‘These students all expressed that they do not have confidence in the adults at Kellogg to support them in situations like this,’ the email to administrators added.
Anglada Bartley said she experienced a slew of other inappropriate interactions with male students from 2021-2024 along with other female teachers and students at Kellogg Middle School (pictured)
According to Anglada Bartley, these alleged repeated issues really came to light in 2022 when she led a walkout from the school.
Posters were plastered across the school stating: ‘Girls in our school are being sexualized and harassed by boys. Teachers and other staff aren’t doing enough about it!’
Following the walk-out, Anglada Bartley said she was optimistic that real change would happen, especially since he responded to her complaint about the boys recording her on a cell phone, the complaint said.
‘I’m sorry this happened,’ then-Principal Richard Smith told her.
‘This is unacceptable. Tomorrow I’ll review the footage and see who the students are. I’ll contact parents, set expectations and perhaps escalate further depending on who they are,’ he added.
Despite his apology and promise to look into the situation, Anglada Bartley soon discovered nothing was being done about it, she told the outlet.
She was told three to five boys involved in the recording incident would be suspended for a few days, but according to records included in the court filing, they were only let off on one day.
In his written transcript from his disposition, Smith said the school did not set standards for how the boys were supposed to spend their day and did not check in to see if they had learned from their actions before returning to class, per the lawsuit.
‘When there was no consequence for the boys, boys started harassing girls more,’ Anglada Bartley, who is also an author, said.
In his written transcript from his disposition, Principal Richard Smith (pictured) said the school did not set standards for how the boys were supposed to spend their day and did not check in to see if they had learned from their actions before returning to class after suspension
The former teacher even went as far as to request that school assemblies be held to discuss boundaries with students and how recording people for social media without permission is not acceptable, but it was denied, the outlet said.
In lieu of the assembly, Anglada Bartley said teachers showed students a slideshow that she thought made it seem like girls had a duty to change boys’ behavior.
Throughout her fight, Anglada Bartley said she knew she was being closely monitored by the school administration.
She received a letter of reprimand from the district after she recommended students write to the administration about the grunting noises they heard, records showed.
Angalda Bartley also received another note, this time a non-disciplinary ‘letter of exception,’ after she reported a co-worker who she believed was sexually assaulting a student.
Elizabeth Inayoshi, Anglada Bartley’s lawyer, said she believes the settlement amount her client was given reflected the ‘strong case’ she had against the district.
According to Anglada Bartley, these alleged repeated issues really came to light in 2022 when she led a walkout from the school
‘More problematically, in an effort to stop and distract from her valid complaints,’ Inayoshi told the outlet.
‘Kellogg and PPS ultimately instigated multiple unwarranted retaliatory investigations and discipline within a six-month period against a 20-year veteran teacher who had a spotless and award-winning record until then.’
The district’s lawyers, Karen Vickers and Beth Plass, said the ‘alleged sexual harassment… was isolated and sporadic and not sufficiently severe to form the basis of a hostile work environment claim.’
They said the district also ‘took prompt corrective measures to remedy inappropriate student conduct.’
Anglada Bartley, who started teaching at Kellogg Middle School in 2021, has decided to say goodbye to her career as an educator.
DailyMail.com contacted Portland Public Schools and Inayoshi for comment.
