North Salem teacher Trever Ball banned from SKPS employment

North Salem High School teacher Trever Ball will be permanently barred from working for Salem-Keizer Public Schools when his employment ends June 14, according to a resignation agreement obtained by the Statesman Journal.

The agreement also limits what the school district can tell potential new employers about Ball, but only if those employers do not serve K-12 students, children or vulnerable populations.

The school district put Ball on administrative leave and opened an investigation on June 1, 2023, in response to a student complaint alleging sexual assault and harassment. Ball will remain on leave until his employment ends, according to the agreement.

The Statesman Journal reported on Ball’s resignation on May 6. At that time, Ball said he decided to resign to pursue other endeavors.

“My resignation should not be viewed as an admission of guilt,” he wrote in an email to the Statesman Journal.

Ball did not respond to the Statesman Journal’s questions this week about the resignation agreement.

Oregon DHS finds complaints founded

Ball previously was on paid administrative leave from Dec. 9, 2021, through March 27, 2022. He resigned from his additional position coaching girls’ basketball at North Salem when he returned.

On June 2, 2023, hundreds of students from North Salem and South Salem high schools walked out of classes to protest what they said was district inaction on student complaints about Ball.

The students leading the walkout alleged they were sexually assaulted and harassed over several years by Ball.

The students said they told school officials about the incidents more than a year before the walkout, but nothing had been done.

District spokesman Aaron Harada declined to say whether the district had finished its investigation into the student complaints against Ball, citing an exemption in Oregon’s public records law for personnel discipline actions.

The Oregon Department of Human Services also investigated the students’ complaints. It determined that two allegations of sexual abuse and two allegations of threat of harm, with a total of four victims, were “founded,” meaning there was reasonable cause to believe the abuse occurred.

DHS declined the Statesman Journal’s request, under the state public records law, for a copy of the investigation results, citing an exemption to that law for child abuse investigations.

Ball said he is appealing the DHS findings.

The Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission closed an investigation without taking any action. Ball’s teaching license remains active.

Agreement doesn’t prohibit further investigations

The resignation agreement states it is not an admission of any violation of law or statute by Ball or the district.

It also states that the district still can participate in, or conduct, required sexual conduct or abuse investigations.

The agreement limits what the district can tell non-education employers about Ball’s dates of employment, positions held and that he resigned effective June 14.

In the Salem-Keizer district, Ball previously worked at Judson Middle School and McKay High School. He also was head basketball coach at the private Crosshill Christian School and worked at South Albany High School.

Tracy Loew covers education at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: [email protected] or 503-399-6779. Follow her on X at @Tracy_Loew