John Rose, the former Elkton Middle School teacher who pleaded guilty in Bedford County last fall to several counts of sexually abusing a child, has yet to enter a plea on similar charges in Rockingham County. Questions remain, including how he was able to leave Rockingham County and teach in Bedford for another year while continuing to abuse a child. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.
Following the arrest of John Rose in August 2024, rumors swirled around the Elkton community, where he formerly taught at Elkton Middle School.
The teacher and coach had left the Rockingham County Public Schools system the spring prior and had been teaching for a year in Bedford County when he was arrested.
Many in the community whispered that it was well known that Rose, who was arrested for carnal knowledge of a 13- or 14-year-old and for indecent acts with a child, had been sexually abusing the victim for a long time, according to community members who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They wondered what the school administration did to stop the behavior and how he was able to leave the RCPS school system so easily and find work as a teacher with Bedford County Public Schools for a year.
Those questions snowballed as the former Elkton Middle School principal, Emily Holloway, was later tapped to be principal of Peak View Elementary School.
A petition to have her removed was started. Parents began inundating the school board with emails asking for transparency, which WMRA obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. Here are excerpts from several emails, read by voice actors.
PARENTS (played by voiceover actors): I would like you to reconsider the appointment of Emily Holloway as principal for Peak View Elementary School next year. Given the ongoing court case that occurred during her leadership at EMS, I feel she is not suited for the position…. John Rose should have been removed from Elkton Middle School the instant there was proof of him contacting students. Instead, Emily Holloway helped him continue to teach and terrorize young children…. Upon learning of her connection to Elkton Middle School during the timeline of the alleged abuse, it is disturbing and unacceptable that she would even be considered for a role at Peak View Elementary School. Peak View is in need of a strong leader who will always put the students’ safety and well-being first…
Eventually, Holloway accepted a different administrative position with RCPS. Holloway did not respond to requests for comment.
MACKENZIE PAOLETTI: I used to coach track, and one time we saw a student in his car. And we said, “Hey, what is that about?” Like, you can’t be in his car. Then someone told me her parents had given him special permission to drive her home.
Mackenzie Paoletti was a math, physical science, and English teacher at Elkton Middle School from 2020 to 2023 and taught alongside Rose. She said she had not only heard rumors that Rose had an illegal relationship with a student but had also witnessed inappropriate behavior. She said that one day in the spring of 2023, Rose was suddenly gone from Elkton Middle.
PAOLETTI: Every day the teachers get a “who is subbing” list, so I would say it took me about three days to notice that John Rose was out for three days, and then at sixth grade lunch, with the other teachers, I said, “Hey, why is John Rose out?” And then everyone was like, oh, you know, it was hush-hush. But, basically, we all came to the conclusion that he had done something inappropriate with a child, and nobody was surprised. Everyone was like, “Are you freaking kidding me?”
Crimes in two counties
The details of the case are shocking, according to documents WMRA obtained from the Bedford County Courthouse. In affidavits for search warrants for Rose’s home and classroom, investigators stated that they received a call from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office on August 6, 2024, reporting that they were working a case involving Rose as a suspect in the rape of a child.
The documents confirmed that Rose was “a teacher in Rockingham County, which is where the sexual relationship between he and a student began.” The victim told investigators that she and Rose had multiple sexual interactions in both Rockingham and Bedford counties.
Other notes said that Rose, “discussed this with other workers,” and that “one of his current co-workers said that defendant was seen out with victim as well, and he lied about who she was.”
The timeline is significant and raises questions, and many people who might be able to answer them declined to comment on the story.
Two of the bills of indictment in Rockingham County charge Rose with offenses occurring from January 1, 2023, to September 15, while Rose was still employed at Elkton Middle School. The other two charges cover the period from September 16, 2023, through August 5, 2024, the year he taught in Bedford County schools.
The makeup of the Rockingham County School Board and administration was very different in the spring of 2023, when Rose mysteriously left RCPS. Only one member of the board, Jackie Lohr, still sits on the 2023 board – the other four members have since turned over.
The district superintendent at the time was Oskar Scheikl. Scheikl declined to comment, as did current Superintendent Larry Shifflett, who said that he was “not involved in the decision-making process related to that employee’s departure.”
Current School Board Chair Sara Horst sent a statement to WMRA, saying, “Mr. Rose left the employ of RCPS in 2023, prior to the initiation of any criminal proceedings. RCPS has fully cooperated with law enforcement efforts concerning Mr. Rose.” Lohr, who served as chair at the time, did not respond to a request for comment. Lowell Fulk, a member of the board then, also declined to comment.
A FOIA request with the RCPS school system did not yield any documents related to John Rose or Emily Holloway, other than emails from concerned Peak View parents. One document was withheld from the request under an exemption for “personnel records.”
WMRA’s FOIA requests to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office were denied, and Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson declined an interview request, stating that the matter was still an open criminal investigation.
Clues into the departure from Elkton
But a search of personnel records through the Rockingham County School Board from March through July 2023 revealed several clues that Rose likely did not resign.
Personnel decisions are usually made during closed-door sessions of school board meetings, but the reports are attached to the agenda. They usually include records of staff who have been hired, retired, or changed positions or schools, and, most importantly, of those who resigned.
Rose was listed on an April 11 list of staff reappointments and renewals for Elkton Middle School. However, from April through July of 2023, Rose was not listed on any record as having resigned.
During that time frame, two employees had their renewal of employment rescinded at a May 26 meeting for the 2023-24 school year. Those employees were listed anonymously as employee A and employee B.
Bedford County Public Schools then hired Rose on July 20, 2023.
In response to an email request for an interview, a spokesperson for Bedford County Schools told WMRA in a statement, “Bedford County Public Schools was not aware of any allegations prior to Mr. Rose's employment. All standard hiring procedures were followed, including fingerprinting, background investigation, and reference checks with previous employers.”
According to the criminal complaint, Rose took the victim to an Airbnb in Bedford County from August 4 to August 6, 2023, and the victim stayed with Rose at his new home in Bedford County from September 22 to 24, 2023.
Paoletti said that when she read what Rose had done, she was not shocked.
PAOLETTI: It’s like, so sad to say, but just like, not surprised. It was a pattern of things that kept happening, things that kept getting swept under the rug. Hush-hush, don’t talk about anything. Like, we never knew what was going on. Like, intentionally.
Paoletti said that the administration never told teachers and staff at Elkton Middle anything about Rose’s departure, leaving their questions unanswered.
PAOLETTI: No, never. Never brought it up, never talked about it. Right, like we have a teacher at our school who is molesting children, and you are not going to tell us? Like, we were working with that guy. We were coaching next to each other. He was watching my cheerleaders cheer. What the heck? Which means the parents didn’t know, and how many other kids were hanging out with him, because the parents trusted him as a coach? But they didn’t tell anybody.
Rose was sentenced in Bedford County in March to 20 years in jail, but all but six of those years were suspended. He appeared in court in Harrisonburg Wednesday in a standard orange jumpsuit, while the judge granted him a continuance.
Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson told WMRA he understood the hearing was continued due to a change in attorneys. If true, this would mark the third change in attorneys since April. Attorney Andrew Graves did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
The next plea hearing in Rockingham County has been set for November 18 at 9 a.m.
