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Old Mission School vice principal let go

August 1, 2016
Jason Robert Porter

Jason Robert Porter

By KAREN VELIE

In an apparent response to threats from several parents to unregister their children, Old Mission School in San Luis Obispo announced Tuesday that Vice Principal Margaret Porter will no longer be employed by the school. Old Mission School is a part of the Monterey Diocese.

“As a result of the unfortunate legal proceedings involving the adult son of Margaret Porter, it has been decided that, in the best interests of Old Mission School, Mrs. Porter will no longer be employed at OMS,” said Old Mission School Principal Tina Ballantyne in a July 26 email to parents.

At the end of June and again in mid July, Paso Robles police officers arrested Jason Robert Porter twice for sexually molesting children and creating child porn. He is being held in the San Luis Obispo County Jail in lieu of $7 million bail.

After the first arrest, police served a search warrant on the home Jason Porter shares with his parents, Lyle and Margaret Porter. Lyle Porter is a former principal at Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School and Margaret Porter is the vice principal at Old Mission School.

Detectives seized computers and storage devices from the Porter home and discovered thousands of images and videos that were believed to be child pornography. At this time, nine local children have been identified as molestation victims, by authorities.

More than a decade ago, Tina Swithin began battling to keep Jason Porter, her former brother-in-law, away from her children. Swithin reported that Porter beat puppies, made out with a 14-year-old girl at a wedding and spoke of murdering and raping women.

However, while Swithin continued to voice her concerns, a San Luis Obispo County Social Services evaluator dismissed her claims and asked the court to force Swithin to send her children to the Porter home for holidays, according to Swithin.

In the end, officials listened to Margaret Porter and ordered Swithin to let her children spend three holidays a year at the home that Jason Porter shared with his parents, Swithin wrote.

“While I hold my ex-husband, his brother and his father accountable for their evil ways, I find the most fault with their mother who was conscious enough and able to prevent the destruction caused by these men,” Swithin wrote. “Instead, she lied over and over for her family – even under oath when it came time to protect my daughters, her granddaughters.

“Had she not worked so hard to keep the family image perfect and shiny, many lives would have been spared pain and heartache,” Swithin wrote.

Following Jason Porter’s arrest, several families threatened to pull their children from Old Mission School if changes were not made, sources said.

Requests for interviews to the Diocese of Monterey were not returned.


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Tina is a terrible cold woman and is covering up more things. sue will bring anyone down to protect her lies and cover up.


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Tina is covering up more things? Like what? I’m pretty sure she was forthcoming with all pertinent information. Your comment doesn’t even make sense. What does make sense is that the Porters are the evil ones here. I just hope they didn’t use their positions as principal and vice principal to procure children for their son to molest and that they didn’t molest children themselves. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…” so the saying goes…


3

I think the principal of Old Mission School also needs to be reviewed.


If Principal Tina Ballantyne (a former nun) truly didn’t know what was going on, then one has to question her competence as a principal. If she was aware and remained mum to shield a subordinate, then the issue becomes far more grave.


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Catholicism is institutional pedophilia. His mom and dad are suspect at the least.


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See Spotlight. It just scratches the surface.


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“Spotlight” was an excellent movie which has been endorsed by the Holy See. To suggest “it just scratches the surface” is hyperbole.


2

Denial Sam? Beware of “celibacy”.


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Stop lying with your “Catholicism is institutional pedophilia” nonsense. NO pedophilia is acceptable but the incidence rate is higher in other schools (public, private and parochial), other “churches”, synagogues, etc. and saddest of all, in families.


The Catholic Church gets hammered (perhaps rightly so) because it’s clergy (largely homosexual clergy — but we can’t discuss that of course) committing the crimes and clergy covering things up when they should be the LAST men on Earth doing so. But to attack the entire Church as you are doing is simply wrong. It’s also clearly bigoted.


His mom and dad ARE suspect. The fact his mom quickly resigned or was canned speaks volumes. It hard to believe there wasn’t plenty of scuttlebutt floating around MCP/OMS given the small sizes of both.


If there was said scuttlebutt then more adults need to be questioned for their lack of action.


0

The accusations that are being made here are ridiculous. The facts are that for the past 15 years Margaret Porter lived in Saudi Arabia.


During the time she was Vice Principal at Mission, they rented an apartment in SLO and they lived in the bottom of the main house in Paso on the weekends. They later moved to the place in Paso full-time but still in the bottom of the house.


If all of these accusations are true, then anyone that lives in an apartment building is guilty of anything that goes on in that building.


The fact that she was let go are because of the rantings of this paper and people that have not researched the facts. This is a good person that was victimized by the accusations against her son. It is hard to believe that our society has not progressed beyond this.


-2

Supposedly they fled to Saudi Arabia to avoid tax evasion in the U.S.


3

Good grief! Where did you get that information. Margaret grew up in Saudi Arabia. It is difficult for women in the Saudi because they do not have any rights. Margaret knew what she was getting herself into so working there seemed like a viable option.


They were offered jobs as a couple to work for an American school district in Saudi Arabia. It was more money than they were making here. They thought they could help their children pay for their college education with the funds.


-3

You are obviously a friend of Ma’regrets. That’s unfortunate. There are many unidentified victims left in Jason Pandora Porter’s little box of horrors. One of the most likely sources for those victims is Ma’regrets friend’s children and grandchildren. If you visited the house you were a victim. I’ll save a paragraph and say Ma’regret has been uncooperative. I’m sure she told you “they are only pictures, he never touched a child”. The filing was 31 counts last I checked – oral copulation is touching. If you are so close, you should provide the investigation with pictures of any child you know to have been around Jason. EVER!


The facts are there. If you want to sit by her side, put on a seat-belt. A National level news agency is requesting the relevant public documents as we speak. (As well as a few civil attorneys) In them they will find that Ma’regret corresponded about molestation incidents involving Jason and acknowledged that they occurred. She knew. Mandated reporter…


Ma’regret put her reputation on the line in those court documents vouching for Jason then turned around and violated a court order she was well aware of by taking her granddaughters to a bar and drinking with their father. The court order resulting from that violation is the reason she hasn’t been allowed around her grandchildren in several years….and you want her around who’s children?


…um, why aren’t you defending Lyle too?


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“During the time she was Vice Principal at Mission, they rented an apartment in SLO and they lived in the bottom of the main house in Paso on weekends.”


There’s a problem with this–Jason Porter was hurting children for *YEARS*, many of which they were all living under the same roof. Your argument that anyone living in the same apartment “building is guilty of anything that goes on in that building” is so poor that I had to laugh. Apartment buildings filled with neighbors (many are strangers). Apartment buildings are NOT *homes* filled with family members that share computers, cameras, common living areas, etc.


Margaret Porter’s release from Mission is not simply”rantings” and “people that have not researched the facts”. Her son, under her roof, sexually molested numerous children for years. Law enforcement found photographic evidence and Jason Porter’s bail is one of the highest set in SLO county, yet his family still denies his guilt. According to Tina Swithin’s timeline, Margaret Porter was made aware of her suspicions regarding Jason long before moving to an apartment in SLO.


Tell me, Just Truth, have you checked with the Paso PD to make sure your children or grandchildren are not victims? Are you certain he Jason Porter did not take pictures up your skirt with a camera on his shoe? The list of victims just keeps getting longer each week.


2

You really need to get your facts straight! Tina Ballantyne was NEVER a former nun! She was completely unaware of the actions of a co workers adult son! Do you know what the adult children of YOUR co workers are doing???? Would you like to be fired and or told you should be fired for the actions of a co workers adult son! Tina Ballantyne is one of the nicest most caring people that I know! She bends over backwards everyday for OMS, the families and the children! Are we back in the dark ages where we go on witch hunts until our need for revenge and blame is satisfied? Think before you speak! Words hurt, you are posting inaccurate information on a public forum which only perpetuates hatred and anger at THE WRONG PERSON!!!


0

Unless there is corroborating evidence and a verdict of guilty as charged, wouldn’t there be an unlawful termination liability for Old Mission School?


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Possibly, it seems few if any public sector or other high profile jobs have a morals clause in them and if they do the morals are at best very loose and to what is not allowed, plus lets not get into the then firing process, usually very long and with a nice chuck of walking money.


0

I don’t think so, Jorge, as they have some history regarding Lyle Porter and his actions when he was terminated at the Prep High School. I believe that people did not realize the severity of the actions of Lyle and Jason, just lots of stories, rumors and hearsay over the years, but nothing substantiated until this can of worms was opened and many of the things in the articles is stuff we have heard rumored for years about this family. There was a reason the family moved to the Middle East after Lyle Porter’s termination at the high school.


Don;t forget, Lyle was the principle of Old Mission School before going up to the high school!

He was only at the high school for a year or two before termination as I recall!


3

I think Lyle and at least one of the sons went to work and attend Mater Dei after Mission. He was there during a big molestation issue. Lived in some church/school related communal housing. Then went to the Middle East.


1

These are wrong facts as well….. Don’t you get tired of gossip that is incorrect1


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Given that I heard it from one of his sons, you are probably right about it being a bold faced lie…


1

Lyle’s bio on the Almond Acres petition puts him as principal at mater die. One son graduated from mater die. The Monsignor Harris (former principal) imolestation case surfaced around then with multiple victims. You want a street level screenshot of the group house?


0

Wow! This is much more than each link in the chain. What a mess, best to rid of.


0

I suspect they reached a “deal.”


0

There would be if Mission was a public school but because it is private school and they rely on private funds, they can hire and fire at will. The threat of parents to remove their children scared the Diocese.


This woman has been an advocate for abused children and a counselor. If she had any indication that her son had a problem, she would have made sure he had professional help. I realize this is not what Tina Swithin has said but consider the fact that she has been trying to sell her story to Life Time and she has written two books she would like to sell as well.


If Tina wasn’t trying to receive monetary gain from the situation she has created, I might think some of her stories were true. She has managed to stretch and manipulated the truth it to make a more interesting story.


-3

The fact that Margaret Porter has been “an advocate for abused children and a counselor” makes what her all the more culpable.


According to Tina’s timeline, she made both the entire Porter family and a social worker aware of her concerns regarding Jason many years ago. At that time, Margaret Porter defended her son, she did not, in fact do her due diligence as an advocate, counselor, teacher and mandated reporter and investigate her son who was, at that time, actively sexually molesting children.


Margaret Porter did in fact have indication (from Tina Swithin and from numerous rumors) that her son is a criminal of the worst kind, and by advocating for him, she has now subjected herself to public outcry.


3

“If she had any indication that her son had a problem, she would have made sure he had professional help.”


April 29, 2011 Damien Porter wrote his mother an email outlining incidents involving Jason including that Ma’regret was present at “Applebees where he talked about raping and killing Savannah”. Damien’s email concluded with a statement that his mother needed to get Jason professional help. Public record. She knew.


Again I’ll point to her violation of court orders designed to safeguard her granddaughters and ask who’s children has she “been an advocate for”?


0

My bad, so many of Ma’regrets declarations about how they all live together in one house as a happy family to go through that I used the filing date. Damien’s email was written July 28,2008.


0

Tina has written 4 books, not 2. If I was her, I would write a 5th one about enabling mothers.


2

He should get put in general population and get whats coming to him…


0

Holding a parent responsible for the misdeeds of her adult son seems unfair to me, if not illegal. As far as I can tell, no criminal charges have been filed against the mother, so why should she suffer for her degenerate son’s crimes?


0

Oh good grief!

If this woman is so oblivious as to not know (or pretend not to know) what’s happening in her own home–she has no business being around other peoples’ children.


0

She is holding the mother responsible for enabling her son. By lying to social workers and under oath, her son was able to molest more children. So yes, she absolutely is responsible for what has happened to these children.


2

Ugluk: Margaret Porter, because of her (former) position as a school principal is a mandated reporter. She is REQUIRED to report any suspicion of child abuse. She did NOT do that; instead she covered for her son Jason and it’s good that she is no longer employed at OMS.


2

What are you talking about! I don’t even know where to start in responding to your comment.


This woman is a professional teacher/administrator and is mandated by the law to report suspicion activity involving children.


This woman had her son living with her for years and others had mentioned his bad behaviors to her family members. He talked of raping women, killing animals, etc.


“In 2009, I was thankful when the court issued an order that the children could not be around Robert.”… this stated by Jason’s ex-sister-in-law, mother of 2 little girls/daughters, and was knowledge to Margaret Porter who allowed Jason (known as a suedo name “Robert”) on many occasions according to the girls mothers to continue to be around the 2 little girls when legally not allowed. I am sure the Court did not issue that order lightly!


Margaret Porter lived in a house where these pictures, computers, printers, etc. were stored and used, and where some of the pictures were probably taken, where Jason’s paid for bride and her children lived, where his behavior had to be out in the open, where Margaret asked her daughter-in-law to “play nice” for family appearance. There is a pattern in all this behavior of father, mother and son(s) that is inappropriate and questionable at best.


And you, Ugluk, want to stand in defense of a professional school vice-principal/teacher knowing Margaret broke the law involving a court order to not allow her son, Jason, around his two (2) nieces as ordered by the Court and the police had to be called by the mother when her husband took the girls over to the Porter house with Jason there. Says a lot about you for sure! Shameful…


0

OMS and MCP should put the children first. In this instance they did not. What kind of education can parents expect from an institution that tries to hide evil behavior instead of confronting it? How many employees knew about this and did nothing for fear of “rocking the boat”?


0

The institution DID NOT try to hide anything. Tina Ballantyne was out of the country on vacation when the story broke! She was not aware prior to the news reports that their was an issue! I find it absolutely STUNNING that you and so many other people think that she should have known the intimate details of a co workers ADULT son’s life! Are you serious! Instead of getting your facts straight you are jumping to conclusions! Inaccurate conclusions that are hurtful and harmful to Tina Ballantyne and the school! She and the school are a wonderful asset to our community! Our community should have pride in knowing that a they are available to many children. Might I add…NOT just rich children, they give out generous scholarships to many, many families which allow a diverse economic community at the school. I agree be angry with Jason Porter but enough with Tina Ballantyne and the school, they have done NOTHING wrong.


0

Whoever that Social Services Evaluator is,that person needs to be reevaluated, held accountable or something. How many times was Tina making complaints only to be ignored or not believed? That’s about a broken office if I’ve ever heard of one.

Much respect for Tina for never giving up on the fight to keep this dirtbag away from her kids.


0

Same 3 “thumbs down” here – Jason, Margaret, and Lyle!!!


0

I have two big issues about this article:


1) Why would Old Mission School not have resolved this matter as soon as this story broke, they had the facts, and they must have known that no normal loving parent would allow any of the Porter’s near their children under any circumstances. This should have been a no brainer and resolved back in the middle of July for the Monterey Diocese and Principal Tina Ballantyne. Why would they have waited until parents threatened to remove their children to act on Margaret Porter’s dismissal knowing some of the circumstances surroundling Mr. Lyle Porter when he was the principal of the High School and was dismissed. This must say a lot about the school. I am a second generation Missionite and my kids were third and I must say this would never have happened back in the day. Things have sure changed!


2) What was Margaret Porter thinking? That this could occur in her household, the contents of the stories printed being appalling and think that people would not be upset and would just turn their heads like she has done for some years now. These people that do very evil deeds and are protected by families, friends and those that surround them is truly disgusting. Margaret and Lyle Porter are definitely what is wrong with society, religion and family in the world we are all living in.


Shame on Margaret, Lyle, Jason and the three brothers. Shame on Old Mission School. Shame on Monterey Diocese and Principal Tina Ballantyne for not even thinking about protecting our children first and foremost. You are all so disgusting right now!


0

Who are the 3 “thumbs down” here – Jason, Margaret, and Lyle?


0

Because the school office is closed for the month of July and Tina Ballantyne was out of the country and on vacation! It was handled IMMEDIATELY after OMS was made aware of the situation.


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