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Published on 11/25/1996 All articles from this issue

Parents question nursery school leaders over alleged child molester

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Ed Whitehead fielded questions from angry parents who wanted information about the alleged molestations that occurred at their nursery school last spring.

Whitehead, the director of adult education for the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District that runs the 43-year-old Los Altos Parent Preschool where the alleged incidents occurred, attended the Nov. 18 meeting of nursery school parents and alumni parents to answer questions.

"The meeting was very painful for the people involved," he said. "There is nothing that will make you feel worse than children who may have been harmed while in your care."

James Alvin Stiritz, 62, known to children as "Grandpa Jim," faces 12 felony charges of child molestation involving four 4-year-old Los Altos girls, three of whom he allegedly molested at the nursery school during the 1995-1996 school year while there as a "worker parent" with his grandson.

Stiritz has been in custody since his arrest July 14 and is being held without bail.

According to the parent of one of the victims, parents had complained about Stiritz to school administrators at least three weeks before school was out last spring.

"Why wasn't he removed as soon as there was any suspicion about him?" she asked Whitehead at the meeting.

Whitehead confirmed that he had heard of parent concerns three weeks before school was out, and that administrators talked to an attorney to see what they could do.

But "we did not have suspicions he was a child molester," Whitehead said in an interview. "We had reports that someone was in the class who was a little odd. You can't kick someone out because they're odd. It's a public classroom, and we have constraints of open access. We hadn't heard of him (Stiritz) doing anything specific.

"As long as he was not doing something disruptive, we had to let him stay. We can't violate a person's rights, or we'd be guilty of defamation of character," he said.

Whitehead also confirmed that the nursery school director, Denny de Harne, is on administrative leave.

"This is not punitive for her," Whitehead said. "I'm giving her some time off because this has been very stressful for all concerned." She began her leave sometime in early November.

Stiritz appeared in court Nov. 19 and pleaded not guilty to the two most recent charges of felony child molestation that were filed Oct. 31.

He was first arrested in Los Altos July 14 for an alleged kidnapping of a 9-year-old girl from Shoup Park.

In response to his arrest, parents came forward to police and reported numerous incidents of what they called "suspicious behavior" between Stiritz and little girls around Los Altos, according to court documents.

As a result of the police investigation, Stiritz was charged in late August with 10 felony charges of child molestation, involving two 4-year-old girls, incidents that happened at Grant Park and at the nursery school with one of the two, court documents said.

The investigation continued and led to the two additional charges, involving two more victims, with the alleged molestation occurring at the nursery school, police said.

As of Nov. 20 the investigation is still on-going, said Los Altos Police Sgt. Bob Lacey.

"We're still doing interviews," he said, and more charges may still come.

A court hearing for Stiritz is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 10 in Palo Alto Municipal Court.

"Witnesses will testify in person," said Stiritz's attorney, Palo Alto lawyer Mike Armstrong. "Live witnesses. That's my understanding, but the DA makes that call."

In molestation cases, sometimes children are allowed to testify in the judge's chambers or for their testimony to be done out of the courtroom but in front of a video camera so that they do not have to testify in court, police said.

Armstrong said he prefers the witnesses to testify in court. "It works for everybody to see what the witnesses have to say," he said.