Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home police arrested Sweet Home High School Athletic Director, Kostanty Stephen Knurowski, 33, last week on five counts of third-degree sexual abuse.
Knurowski, who is also the head boys basketball coach and a PE teacher, went to the Police Department April 4, where he was taken into custody, at 11:32 a.m. He was transported to Linn County Jail and released on his own recognizance the same day.
Sweet Home police began investigating Knurowski on March 26 after being contacted by the family of a former SHHS student.
“The subsequent investigation alleges a pattern of sexual contacts between Knurowski and the juvenile female student that lasted for approximately seven months during the 2009-10 school year,” said Police Chief Bob Burford. “There were ongoing sexual contacts occurring both at and away from school.”
The student was a junior at the time, he said.
Knurowski is the second teacher to be arrested for sexual abuse this school year. Business teacher Michael Morrell was arrested last summer and pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. A third was dismissed in a plea agreement.
Knurowski began working for SHHS at the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, when he accepted an offer to teach health and PE and coach boys basketball. He has served as athletic director the past two years.
Knurowski, who is married, was head basketball coach and a PE teacher at North Salem High School before taking the position in Sweet Home.
He graduated from East Linn Christian Academy and earned an associate’s degree and played basketball at Hesston College in Kansas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education at Western Oregon University and went to work at North Salem in 2004.
School District 55 Supt. Don Schrader placed Knurowski on paid administrative leave when he learned of the investigation during Spring Break. The allegations have also been reported to the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission.
Whenever there is a situation like this, Schrader said, the employee is allowed due process under the contract. During this process, the employee is placed on paid leave.
At the same time, until due process is complete, “if it’s founded or unfounded, we want to make sure this person is not in school,” Schrader said.
Schrader said he wanted to make people aware of the district’s practice. It’s something he has followed throughout his 27-year career.
“If you’re going to have kids by themselves in your room, make sure your door’s open,” Schrader said, based on the potential for allegations. “It’s been a practice. It continues to be a practice, and where it’s not, it should be a practice.”
Curriculum Director Tim Porter will handle athletic director duties throughout the rest of the year, Schrader said. He has been athletic director before.
The district was planning to change how the position works next year before this investigation was initiated, Schrader said. Next year, it will be handled by a teacher on special assignment who also will handle behavior management.