Dense fog and frozen fingers didn’t stop a group of parents from protesting outside of St. Helens High School on a brisk morning the Tuesday after students returned to class from Thanksgiving break.

“Just hearing everything that’s going on, it makes me mad,” Jeremiah Harrington, a father of two SHHS graduates and one current student, said. “We’re a small community, and we need to stick together. And we need change.”

About 15 people were gathered at the intersection of Columbia River Highway and Gable Road on Dec. 3 before they made their way down to the street to protest outside the high school, which has been embroiled in controversy since the Nov. 12 arrests of choir teacher Eric Stearns and retired math teacher Mark Collins on several sex abuse charges involving minors.

Stearns and Collins were arrested just months after the St. Helens School District’s $3.5 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging the school failed to protect another minor from sexual abuse at the hands of Kyle Wroblewski — a sticking point for many community members who feel the current situation mirrors that case.

“You would think with Wroblewski getting in trouble, none of the other teachers would do something like this,” Ric McKean, a parent of an SHHS student, said.

Since the arrests, the St. Helens school board has placed Superintendent Scot Stockwell and St. Helens High School Principal Katy Wagner on administrative leave, and Wagner now faces mistreatment and misconduct charges. The school board named Steve Webb as the acting superintendent, who has brought controversy of his own. The Oregon Department of Human Services has also opened an investigation into the school’s handling of mandatory reporting requirements.

But to the parents who lofted homemade signs and shouted words of support through a megaphone to students in class, it isn’t enough.

“I want to get a new administration in. All of them need to go,” McKean said. “They all knew, so they’re all guilty.”

Some parents have called for the removal of the school board.

“I’m outraged,” Sarah Young, who is also a parent of an SHHS student, said. “It makes absolutely no sense to me how the school board hasn’t resigned yet.”

A handful of students also came to express their continued anger. Junior Kenneth Ledoux’s first day at the high school coincided with the arrests of Stearns and Collins. Clutching a sign calling for the removal of school board member and Columbia County Commissioner Kellie Jo Smith, the 16-year-old said he doesn’t feel comfortable sitting in class as a new student.

“It’s supposed to be teachers that we’re supposed to be able to trust when we go into school,” he said. “If we can’t trust the teachers when we go into school, who are we supposed to trust?”

Gabe Barker, 17, joined the protest after his first period class. The senior was a student in Stearns’ choir class, and said he feels like someone close to him died.

“We’re doing our best to keep the choir program going, and we are. We’re doing the best we can,” he said. “But it just hurts because he did a lot for me.”