Bainbridge Island Review, May 15, 2015

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REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

Friday, May 15, 2015 | Vol. 90, No. 20 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢

INSIDE: All hail the queen, A11

BHS teacher arrested for alleged sexual relationship with student BY BRIAN KELLY

Bainbridge Island Review

A Bainbridge High teacher accused of having sex with one of her teenage students was charged Monday in Kitsap County Superior Court with two felonies — first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, and tampering with a witness — and the gross misdemeanor of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. Jessica M. Fuchs, 26, a first-year science teacher at BHS, entered a plea of not guilty in Kitsap County Superior Court Monday. She made her first court appearance earlier this week following her arrest May 7 on charges that were brought after administrators at Bainbridge High learned of alleged inappropriate conduct between Fuchs and a student in her 10th-grade biology class. Fuchs did not say much during her short court appearance before Superior Court Judge William Houser as she was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and tampering with a witness, and also communication with a minor for immoral purposes. Noting that Fuchs has no criminal history, is not a flight risk and has been under investigation since February — and also has longstanding and deep ties to the Bainbridge community — her defense attorney asked that her bail be reduced from $100,000. Houser agreed to reduce her bail to $25,000, and her attorney noted that Fuchs had 10 members of her family in the courtroom and that they would pool their money to come up with the bail amount. Houser also told Fuchs to have no contact with her 16-year-old

Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review

Jessica M. Fuchs is escorted to a Kitsap County courtroom Monday to face charges that she sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy she taught at Bainbridge High School.

Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review

Jessica M. Fuchs enters a not guilty plea during her court appearance Monday. victim, and approved a two-year, no-contact order that prohibits Fuchs from coming within 1,000 feet of the teenager’s home or school. Fuchs then answered Houser’s questions as he went over her

conditions of release. Her trial has been set for June 29. Fuchs, wearing orange flip flops and dressed in a green jail uniform that read “KCSO JAIL” on the back of the shirt, was brought into the courtroom alone and handcuffed after 11 other defendants were brought in and seated in the jury box moments before. Television news crews from Seattle lined the back of the courtroom, as print reporters watched from benches just behind the first bench occupied by roughly a half dozen whispering attorneys. Fuchs sat at the far end of the jury box, closest to the courtroom audience, and was handcuffed to a string of five other prisoners,

Family room.

BY BRIAN KELLY

Bainbridge Island Review

November’s ballot continued to take shape this week as more candidates launched their campaigns for the Bainbridge Island City Council. Kol Medina, 41, filed as a candidate late Monday for the North Ward, District 2 Bainbridge city council seat. Susan D. Bergen, 56, a landscape architect, filed as a candidate in the race earlier Monday. Bergen’s entry prompted a bit of a uncertainty, however, as she later told the Review in an email she would withdraw. She had not by the time the Review went to press Thursday. On Saturday, Bainbridge activist Ron Peltier, 64, announced his candidacy on the steps of city hall surrounded by a group of more than a dozen supporters. Peltier filed as a candidate for the District 1, at-large seat on the council late Wednesday. Pegeen Mulhern, 59, who attended Peltier’s kick-off event and is also a District 1 candidate, shouted “Game on!” from the crowd after Peltier announced his candidacy for the seat. A carpenter, Peltier is better known as one of the opponents of the controversial Visconsi shopping center project on High School Road. On Saturday, he took multiple shots at city staff over the project, and said they acted more like representatives of the development company than city planners. Peltier is one of the founders of Islanders for Responsible Development, the grassroots group that unsuccessfully fought to have the Visconsi development rejected by the city’s hearing examiner. “I am running for council because I see our island headed in the wrong direction,” Peltier said in his announcement.

TURN TO TEACHER | A20

TURN TO RACES | A20

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all men. She looked repeatedly around the courtroom, and gave a fleeting nod and smile to two family members who came in and sat down. For most of her time in court, Fuchs — her eyes puffy and red and weighed down by dark circles — appeared to be fighting back tears. She stared down or straight ahead at the bench, pausing occasionally to wipe tears from the corner of her eyes or wipe her nose. Fuchs was released from jail on bail earlier this week. The alleged sexual relationship was discovered after the victim’s mother looked at the teenager’s phone and saw Snapchat

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