The superintendent of the Shoreline Unified School District was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of child molestation.
Robert Patrick Raines, 67, was booked into Marin County Jail on a count of lewd and lascivious acts against a child younger than 14. His bail amount is $50,000.
The investigation started on June 1 after the Marin County Office of Education learned of the alleged conduct and reported it to authorities.
“The health, safety and well-being of all of our students is our most important priority,” said Mary Jane Burke, the Marin County superintendent of schools. “It is the mandate of all schools to follow all relevant laws with regard to any allegations of child abuse. The district took swift and immediate action notifying the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and placed Mr. Raines on leave.”
Sheriff’s detectives took Raines into custody Tuesday morning at his residence on Sonoma Avenue in Petaluma.
The sheriff’s department said it would not release more information about the case, and did not say whether the alleged victim is a student in the district.
“We are shocked and saddened by the news of the arrest of Mr. Raines,” said Jill Manning Sartori, president of the school district board. “The safety and well-being of children is our highest priority at Shoreline. Our hearts are with the family affected by this incident.”
Raines is within weeks of his retirement from the district, which hired him in 2016. Before that, he spent eight years at the Alexander Valley Union School District in Healdsburg, where he worked as superintendent and principal.
Raines started his career as a special education teacher in 1981. Later he was the principal at West Marin School, the principal at Wright School in Santa Rosa and superintendent and principal of Wilmar Union School District in Petaluma.
The Shoreline Unified School District has about 500 students at Bodega Bay School, Tomales Elementary School, Inverness School, West Marin School and Tomales High School.
Adam Jennings, the principal of Tomales High School, had previously been named as the next superintendent when Raines retires at the end of the month.
This article will be updated.