'He's a predator': Parents of victim unhappy with release date of former Kettle Falls teacher | Spokane News

KETTLE FALLS, Wash. – The Kettle Falls School District announced Monday that former teacher Nathaniel Ford, 32, kissed three other students at the district's Early Learning Center. Ford is scheduled to be released from prison on Oct. 8, earlier than his 364-day sentence.

Austin Zavala and his wife were informed by the school district's superintendent on Monday evening that their four-year-old daughter was one of three other students Ford kissed on the cheek.

The superintendent's call overwhelmed Zavala's family, leaving them shocked and angry.

“My blood was boiling,” he said.

The school district shared disturbing news with parents: After further review of the 336 hours of video footage, they learned that Ford had kissed three other students on the cheek. The first reports were released in February.

The district apologized for not identifying these additional incidents when the video was first reviewed. Still, Zavala doesn't blame the district, although he wishes he had known sooner. At least officially: The father said that when the first reports came to light in February, he became suspicious that his daughter was also involved in Ford's actions.

Unfortunately, according to the district, a third-party investigation confirmed this to be the case.

“The Kettle Falls School District was as surprised as I was,” Zavala said.

Zavala said the superintendent described the video footage of Ford and the children to him and his wife.

“He described the footage where Nathan picked her up and kissed her, and there is another part of the footage where Nathan went through a blind spot behind a bookshelf and several children, including my daughter, crawled all over him,” he said.

Zavala said parents should be able to confidently leave their children in the care of teachers or other school district staff without having to imagine that something like this could happen.

“He was my daughter's teacher, and you know, I shook his hand,” he said. “We don't want someone like that back in our community and our state, hurting other people, and having other people go through what we went through.”

In April, Ford pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree possession of images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He also pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting minors for sexual purposes.

He was sentenced to 364 days in jail with credit for time already served. However, on Wednesday, NonStop Local KHQ confirmed with the Stevens County Jail that Ford is scheduled for early release on October 8 of this year.

“He deserves a lot more time than he got,” Zavala said. “He's a predator and they're among us, and I think he deserves more time in prison.”