Students, parents had raised concerns about Castro Valley High School music teacher before sex abuse charges

Students alleged teacher Keita Hasegawa was unprofessional, erratic in classroom

Parents in Castro Valley are chastising school officials for delaying an investigation despite early indications of inappropriate behavior by a high school music teacher charged this week with sexually abusing a student.

According to online jail records, visual and performing arts teacher Keita Hasegawa, 31, was booked Thursday at Santa Rita Jail and is scheduled for arraignment Monday. He was still being held on Friday.

Months earlier, at a Castro Valley Unified School District public board meeting on April 26, parent John O’Hara told board members that his family had received an email informing them that Hasegawa, who had been placed on leave in March following allegations of possible inappropriate teacher-student behavior, was scheduled to return to the classroom.

“My wife and I were gravely concerned,” O’Hara told the board. “When we went straight to law enforcement, we discovered that there is still an active investigation going on.” School administration did not turn over any of the evidence shared by students to begin the investigation. Orders not to cooperate with law enforcement came from higher up (in the district), according to the sergeant I spoke with. As a result, I have no faith in the school district to handle this situation properly.”

O’Hara refused to reveal who sent the email, and Hasegawa did not return to class. When contacted by this newspaper this week, O’Hara declined to comment further. When district officials learned of Hasegawa’s alleged wrongdoing, they say they acted quickly.

According to a criminal complaint, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Hasegawa on Tuesday with seven felony counts, including two counts of oral copulation of a person under the age of 16; two counts of sexual penetration by foreign object; two counts of lewd act upon a child; and a single count of contacting a minor to commit a sex crime.

According to prosecutors, the charged offenses involved a girl in one of Hasegawa’s classes and occurred between 2021 and 2023. However, Hasegawa did not come under official suspicion until March of this year, when the high school’s principal, Chris Fortenberry, reported to police that Hasegawa admitted to being at the girl’s home during a mental health crisis, ostensibly to provide “moral support,” according to authorities.

According to authorities, Hasegawa allegedly communicated with the girl via the chat app Discord. According to authorities, students in Hasegawa’s classroom photographed his computer screen in March, which allegedly showed him sending messages to the girl like “I love you babe” and “Sweet dreams gorgeous.” The students reported the incident to school officials.

It was unclear on Friday whether Hasegawa had hired an attorney.

At the April 26 school board meeting, one of the students who photographed Hasegawa’s computer in March told the board that she had brought the photos to school administration and had been told to be discreet and not spread rumors. She didn’t say who she gave the photos to.

“I remained discreet for four weeks, hardly telling anyone anything about the situation,” the student explained. “On April 20, I was summoned to another meeting with administration and fellow students, where we were informed that Hasegawa would return to school the following week.” It was truly unthinkable at the time that this could happen.”

According to the student, the school announced about a week later that the music teacher would not be returning for the remainder of the school year.

The board was informed by the student’s mother that their family had previously contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which had obtained a statement from her daughter as well as photographic evidence.

“They stated that they had not received this evidence prior to receiving it that night,” said the mother. “This was later confirmed by another sheriff’s department representative.” So it appears that the administration withheld the most concrete evidence they had against this teacher in their mandated report.”

Before moving to Castro Valley High School in 2021, Hasegawa taught band at Creekside Middle School.

Other students who spoke at the April 26 board meeting accused Hasegawa of being unprofessional, showing favoritism in the classroom, and making demoralizing remarks.

“I’ve seen several instances where Mr. Hasegawa has crossed lines firsthand,” one student said. “In the classroom, he is violent, sometimes throwing and slamming objects, yelling at students, and kicking them out.” He gets very personal with students, sometimes calling them names and being extremely immature in my opinion.”

This week, the principal’s office referred questions to the school district. Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi argued in a prepared statement Thursday that the district handled the case properly. She stated that Hasegawa was placed on leave when school officials first became aware of his possible inappropriate behavior with a minor and has not been permitted to return to campus since.

“Additionally, we contacted local law enforcement so they could investigate the situation; we have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement so that facts and the law may guide a just outcome for this situation,” Ahmadi said. “Because this situation involves personnel and labor laws, we are unable to provide additional information other than to reaffirm to our entire school community, including students, staff, and families, that we are committed to ensuring student safety and well-being and will work diligently to take allegations of inappropriate behavior on behalf of our students seriously.”

Ahmadi did not respond to questions about Hasegawa’s employment status or whether the district will conduct an investigation into how it handled reports of Hasegawa’s alleged inappropriate behavior.

However, according to another student, Hasegawa paid special attention to certain female students, “buying them boba and food and giving them rides in his private car,” and the teacher’s alleged actions went unnoticed.

“Because children are naturally naive and trusting of adults, Keita Hasegawa was able to get away with these behaviors,” explained the student. “Keep in mind that this guy is 31 and everyone he was talking to was a minor,” the student added. Remember, this was our teacher, who we looked at every day and treated with respect, while in the background, he consciously had these extremely inappropriate relationships with students.”