Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
During a Yelm Community Schools Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, June 25, community member E. Wyatt Mendel took to the podium during the community comments portion of the meeting to issue a formal reprimand to Yelm Community Schools administration following the indictment and arrest of James Ruiz, a former bus driver in the district.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collaborated with the Yelm Police Department (YPD) on Tuesday, April 21, to arrest former YCS bus driver James Ruiz on charges of first-degree child molestation, first-degree rape of a child and first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
According to the Thurston County Jail roster, bail was set at $100,000 for the first-degree child molestation charge, and another $100,000 bond was set for the first-degree child rape charge. Additionally, there was a $50,000 bond set for his first-degree charge of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Ruiz was a former employee of YCS, but he officially resigned before the 2025-26 school year began. His resignation was made official during a YCS Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Aug. 14.
On June 12, Mendel publicly shared the results from a public records request for information about Ruiz’s time in the district.
According to the findings from the request, six students were interviewed about any potential misconduct from Ruiz on his bus route. Those interviewed included: a sixth grade student at Yelm Middle School, a fifth grade student from Prairie Elementary School; an 11th grade student from YHS; another fifth grade student from Prairie Elementary School; a seventh grade student from Ridgeline Middle School; and a fifth grade student from Prairie Elementary School.
You can read previous reporting by the Nisqually Valley News on the findings from Mendel’s public records requests and a private investigation into Ruiz conducted by Clear Risk Solutions at https://tinyurl.com/RequestFindings.
The allegations included that Ruiz touched students’ butts, called students “kitty” and touched female students’ hair.
“Good evening members of the board and superintendent Woods,” Mendel said on June 25. “I am here to deliver a formal public reprimand of this administration’s handling of student safety, mandatory reporting laws and its failure to uphold its own internal district policies. For months, this community has watched as systemic failures within the transportation department and administrative offices have put children at risk.”
Mendel added that the federal indictment and arrest of Ruiz is not just a failure of background vetting, but a catastrophic failure of institutional oversight. He also believes that the Washington State Public Records Act exists to ensure government transparency.
“The documents being pulled via public records requests are revealing a very disturbing timeline regarding how student disclosures of abuse were handled internally,” Mendel said. “Under Washington State law, specifically the revised code of Washington 26.44.030, and the revised code of Washington 28A.400.317, every single employee in the district is a mandatory reporter. The law is absolute.”
Additionally, Mendel said when an allegation of abuse or exploitation is made at a school, a report to law enforcement or child protective services must be made immediately.
“Instead of following state law, this administration chose to look inward,” Mendel said. “You allowed internal human resources and third party risk management firms to spend months interviewing students, vetting claims — effectively running a private, in-house investigation before notifying the proper outside authorities. By doing so, you explicitally violated your own policy 34.21 — child abuse, neglect and exploitation prevention. Your own policy strictly states that school personnel are not detectives. Staff are prohibited from running independent investigations or waiting for absolute proof before making a referral.”
According to Mendel, YCS has an existing policy to keep untrained school staff from interfering in forensic timelines. He believes the district violated its own rules.
“While this board spends its public meeting discussing a $6 million budget collapse and cutting essential staff, nurses, sports programs due to fiscal management — you have entirely lost sight of your most fundamental, legal and moral obligation: the physical safety of the students in your care,” Mendel said. “This community will no longer accept vague, rehearsed administrative statements or defenses behind closed executive sessions.”
Mendel also told Woods and the board that public records are being compiled and that a statutory timeline and discrepancies are clear — adding the information is being placed “directly into the hands of the public.”
