Former teacher facing child sex crime charges
Maureen Dolan Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 3 months AGO
COEUR d’ALENE — A Coeur d’Alene high school teacher who resigned amid controversy in December is now facing child sex crime charges.
Jeff Kantola, who taught at Lake City High School, is accused of committing two counts of felony lewd conduct with a child under 16, according to the Idaho State Judiciary’s data repository.
The court file was opened Wednesday and the repository indicates the alleged violations occurred March 5. All other information is exempt from public disclosure because the case is sealed, likely because it involves a minor.
Kantola, of Coeur d’Alene, was placed on leave in October by the Coeur d’Alene School District’s administration after at least one parent raised concerns because Kantola is barred from being licensed to treat patients as a chiropractor, yet he was teaching high school students in Coeur d’Alene.
Kantola’s chiropractic license was revoked in 2004 in the state of Washington after he admitted to having sexual relationships with a patient and an employee, and then failed to comply with the terms of a
suspension order. That suspension order included a requirement for Kantola to receive treatment for at least two years from a therapist experienced in treating sexual problems, and he was not allowed to treat female patients without a female chaperone present.
The Idaho Department of Education issued Kantola a teaching license in 2015, and he was hired by the Coeur d’Alene School District that year. He previously held a teaching license in Tennessee, where he taught for four years.
After Kantola was placed on administrative leave in Coeur d’Alene, Lake City teachers and Deanne Clifford, the school’s principal, rallied around him. Many attended the November school board meeting to protest Kantola’s potential firing.
“How is it that a single phone call, a single stone, if you will, thrown directly at an aging and best forgotten scarlet letter, can lead to this?” Lake City music teacher Tim Sandford said to the school board in November, on behalf of his fellow educators at the school.
Sandford said the school district hired Kantola, brought him to Coeur d’Alene and he distinguished himself as an excellent educator.
“What happened in the past is in the past and has no connection to the safety of students,” Sandford said.
The teachers at the November meeting gave Sandford a round of applause and a standing ovation when he concluded his testimony.
A few weeks later, Kantola submitted a letter of resignation.
“Recent events, that had nothing to do with my performance as a teacher, have had an impact on both my ability to continue to be an effective teacher at Lake City High School as well as maintain the ability to have an appropriate environment at the school for other members of my family,” Kantola wrote.
His wife also teaches at Lake City High.
The following month, in January, the school district paid Kantola a $30,000 settlement. School officials would not discuss the settlement, citing sections of Idaho public records law that exempt public employees’ personnel records from disclosure.
The settlement was likely agreed to because at the time of his hiring in 2015, school officials were aware of Kantola’s past professional licensing problems.
The school district’s former communications director, Laura Rumpler, told The Press in October that Kantola self-disclosed on his application that he had a chiropractic license suspension.
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Maureen Dolan can be reached by email at mdolan@cdapress.com or on Twitter @MaureenCDAPress.
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