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Cluster of Texas Teachers Accused of Having Sex or Sexting with Students

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by Merrill Hope 7 Nov 2015

Incidences of Texas teachers accused of improper relationships with students continue to stream into the 2015-16 school year. An autumnal cluster full of allegations of sexual acts or “sexting,” sending explicit sexual text messages or images, with under-aged minors have been reported.

Waco police arrested Michael George Benns, 35, a former full-time paraprofessional teacher’s assistant at the Midway Independent School District (ISD) Alternative Education Center. Benns was charged Wednesday with having an improper relationship between an educator and student plus sexual assault of a female minor. In March, Benns was fired after the district learned of the February police investigation into his conduct. Waco Police Sergeant Patrick Swanton told the Waco Tribune that the alleged sexual encounter occurred in January between Benns and the victim, a girl under the age of 17, in a downtown parking lot. The victim’s mother reported the incident to police.

“As far as they know at this point, it was a single encounter not on school property,” Swanton said. A forensic interview performed at the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children proved instrumental to the case, said the sergeant. Benns remains in the McLennnan County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond since his arrest Nov. 4 arrest.

Midway ISD Superintendent George Kazanas emailed parents Wednesday afternoon about the situation. “Benns came with strong references from youth organizations in the community,” he wrote. However, he noted that Benns “came to us already with a prior connection to a young lady who now is no longer a student at Midway High School. Due to this prior connection, an inappropriate relationship occurred outside of school hours and off-campus. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement officials to maintain a safe and healthy learning environment for our students.”

On Tuesday, in the Houston area, police arrested Deer Park ISD substitute teacher Blake Saucillo, charging him with allegedly sexting explicit images to a female high school sophomore. According to the Houston Chronicle, Deer Park police investigated a June 1 South Campus High School report of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship. Officers determined Saucillo sent explicit videos, photos, and text messages back and forth with a student over a period of several days, although there was no evidence that the sexual misconduct happened at the school. The  substitute made bail set at $30,000 following his arrest and was released for a Wednesday Harris County court appearance.

In late October, a similar case occurred in the Austin area. Eanes ISD officials notified Child Protective Services and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office of an investigation into a female high school math teacher for inappropriate communications with a male student over social media and texting. She taught at Westlake High School and the district said her background checks cleared when she was hired.

This week, just outside of San Antonio, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office charged Mark LeGault, 35, with an improper relationship between and educator and student. sheriff’s office spokesman James Keith said the Wagner High School band director accused of sexual misconduct was in a relationship with a 17-year-old female student since August but police did not disclose if the victim was one of his band students. Keith told KENS-5 the girl’s parents first contacted the sheriff’s office about the inappropriate relationship on Monday.

The sexual misconduct began after the teenaged girl broke up with her longtime boyfriend. She told deputies LeGault offered her comfort and said, “Let’s hang out. I can make things better for you.” The teen felt pressured to stay in the relationship with LeGault, telling police LeGault threatened to commit suicide.

The suspect had suicidal tendencies. Keith said LeGault showed up with bleeding arms for a meeting with district officials after being placed on administrative leave. First responders rushed LeGault to the hospital.

Since his Tuesday arrest, high school parent Quawanna Peoples told KENS-5 that she was relieved LeGault no longer taught at the school but she emphasized: “It’s shock and disappointment because we look at these educators to look after our children.”

The Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA) reminds education professionals they are “perceived role models in the community” in their 2015-16 Survival Guide, defining improper sexual relationships for teachers and the criminal consequences of these actions. It lists what constitutes real and perceived solicitations of a romantic relationship, warning teachers to “take care to avoid situations in which professional boundaries become poorly defined.”

The 2014-15 school year marked the 7th consecutive year Texas teacher-student improper relationship cases increased, upping from 179 cases opened by the Texas Education Agency to 188.” Previously, expert Terry Abbott blamed the rise of sexual misconduct on social media and secret electronic messaging which he said “created an open gateway for inappropriate behavior,” including developing “improper relationships with students out of sight of parents and principals.” He underscored that the wave of educator sexual deviance in the classroom extends beyond Texas, calling it “epidemic” nationwide.

Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom

 

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Disturbing Summer Surge of Teacher Sexual Misconduct with Students in Texas

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The summer months saw a disturbing surge of teacher sexual misconduct with students as the start of the new school year starts is just a few weeks away.

KBXT-3, the CBS News affiliate in College Station, reported that a 17-year-old male student in the East Central Texas area high school contacted local police on Monday, alleging that theatre arts instructor Gregory Stanley, 42, “initiated unwanted sexual contact” with him at Stanley’s home.

NBC local KAGS-6 reported the boy was given an alcoholic beverage by the teacher and told to drink it slowly. The specifics of the purported sexual encounter between Stanley and the victim were not released and it is not clear why the student was at the teacher’s home. On Tuesday, Stanley apologized to the victim for the incident by phone. The student recorded the call, which he turned over to police.

Stanley was taken into custody that evening at his home. Bond was set at $35,000. He faces second degree felony charges, which carry up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine with a conviction. The teacher was at the College Station high school since 2013, heavily involved in the theatre department including in a one-act play that earned students a trip to the state’s University Interscholastic League (UIL) competition, according to KBTX-3.

In a statement, the College Station Independent School District (ISD) said Stanley was placed on administrative leave pending the results of a police investigation. The district also commented: “…accusations of this nature are disturbing, and if proven to be true, unacceptable” nor will “misconduct of this nature will not be tolerated by any employee.”

Also on Monday, former Dallas ISD teacher and coach, Philon Deberry, 45, received 10 years of probation for sexually assaulting a student and five years of probation for having an improper relationship with another. He must register as a sex offender as part of the plea deal, according to the Dallas Morning News. If he completes the probations, he avoids a formal conviction.

Throughout summer break, teacher sex scandals surfaced.

In June, Krum band director Steve Scher, 28, was arrested for having an improper relationship with a student. Also, Wichita Falls teacher Amber Witte, 29, was taken into custody on sexual misconduct charges. Although she admitted to having oral sex with a teenage male student, she denied having sexual intercourse, which the victim alleged. After a $5,000 bond, Witte was released from the Wichita County Jail.

In late June, a Central Texas high school teacher was arrested for allegedly having sexual relations with a 15-year-old female student. Shawn Westley Noordam, 29, the boys’ track coach and physical education teacher in Copperas Cove, was arraigned on one count of sexual assault of a child and improper relationship between and educator and student. He was later released on $50,000 bail. The Copperas Cove school said that Noordam was no longer employed by the district, the San Antonio Express-News has since reported.

Then in July, Dallas ISD teacher Troy French, 38 was arrested for allegedly having several sexual encounters with an 18-year-old female student. Although the sex was consensual, the relationship was illegal because it was between a teacher and a student, Dallas ISD Police Chief Craig Miller told the Dallas Morning News. A district spokesman identified French as the girl’s wrestling coach and social studies teacher. His bail was set at $25,000.

South of Dallas, Hurst Euless Bedford (HEB) ISD elementary school principal Oscar Figueroa, 46, was arrested and the feds charged him with enticement of a minor, although he pled not guilty. According to the Frisco Enterprise, Figueroa was under investigation based on a Craigslist online ad he placed seeking male-to-male oral sex at a movie theatre with “young partners.” Officers arrested Figueroa at the upscale Frisco Stonebriar Center Mall AMC movie theatre. He resigned his post.

Last year, Breitbart Texas reported on the troubling uptick of improper sexual relationships between educators and students. One teacher gave a student a birthday lap dance. A school security guard allegedly sent sexual texts to female students, only to be suspended and then reinstated. A band director had sex with a high school girl in his music room, and a teacher was sentenced to 17 years in prison for producing child pornography with a 16-year-old student whom he impregnated. This year, Breitbart Texas covered numerous incidents across the state.

It is not just Texas. Nationwide, it is epidemic, says Terry Abbott, the former U.S. Department of Education chief-of-staff who heads up Houston-based research firm Drive West Communications. They track reports of inappropriate teacher-student sexual relationship across the country. Abbott credited social media for the eruption of classroom sexual predators that has “created an open gateway for inappropriate behavior,” including developing “improper relationships with students out of sight of parents and principals.”

In 2014, about 35 percent of the sexual misconduct cases between educators and their students involved social media nationwide.

In March, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) added 74 alleged cases to existing 2013-14 school year tally of 179 cases. Breitbart Texas reported that sexual misconduct cases increased by 27 percent from 141 purported cases since the 2009-10 school year.

Besides criminal prosecution, the TEA’s Educator Investigations (EI) unit examines these educator sexual misconduct cases once they are reported. The offender can be sanctioned. These recriminations may vary from a reprimand to permanent certification revocation. When an educator receives deferred adjudication for a crime, they may not teach while serving that sentence.

TEA tracks data on sexual misconduct cases that they report on a fiscal year end basis.

Previously, TEA told Breitbart Texas that 334,000-plus public school teachers comprise the overwhelming majority of teachers and they act in an appropriate and ethical sexual manner.

Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.

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