Old Mission School vice principal let go
August 1, 2016
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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