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Eric Strand, 61, who was also a Boy Scout leader and firefighter, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to child endangerment and criminal sexual contact for kissing the 14-year-old Hopatcong Middle School eighth grader several times and grabbing her butt over her clothing the year before.
He was sentenced to three years in state prison In exchange for his plea, then was released after serving 362 days, NJ Department of Corrections records show.
Strand, of Mount Olive, began a relationship with the girl through sexually explicit text messages and emails, authorities said.
It progressed to kissing and groping during school hours and, once, on a deck at his home, they said.
The girl testified that other students harassed her after the allegations against Strand became public, a New Jersey Law Journal report says.
The girl’s parents sued the Hopatcong Board of Education, the school principal and a Hopatcong high school principal in Superior Court in Newton, alleging negligent supervision and violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the report says.
The suit accuses the defendants of knowing of Strand’s “past indecent behavior with students” but failing to protect the girl, it says.
The parents accused the school of creating a sexually hostile education environment and contended that officials could have installed software on Strand’s computer that would have caught his exchanges with the girl, according to the report.
Their daughter, they said, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression that required mental health counseling throughout her high school years.
She nonetheless graduated near the top of her class, court papers say.
In the board’s defense, its attorneys said that an immediate investigation found that none of nearly a dozen employees who were interviewed had any knowledge of Strand sexually misbehaving with students, the NJ Law Journal report says.
The board immediately suspended and ultimately fired Strand while taking “reasonable steps to supervise, counsel and protect the plaintiff from any retaliation and harassment from peers,” the defense lawyers noted.
That included offering to pay for her to attend school out of the district, which they said her family refused.
The defense lawyers also argued that the girl had pre-existing anxiety.
Strand, who taught at Hopatcong for 19 years, was also a Succasunna Boy Scout leader and Roxbury firefighter. He also participated in the Special Olympics for 10 years and was a Ski/Snowboard Club advisor for 11, records show.
Strand was paroled from the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center for sex offenders in Avenel in May 2018. He remains on parole supervision and on the Megan’s Law sex offender registry -- both for life.
The state Board of Examiners also required him to surrender his certification as a social studies and elementary school teacher.
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