Cases in which teachers are accused of being involved in sexual relationships with students invariably make headlines.
Recently a Wylie High School teacher was arrested following allegations that she had a relationship with a 17-year-old boy, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Kristin Sims, 33 resigned as an English teacher last Wednesday following her arrest for a felony and is no longer a school district employee, Ian Halperin, executive director of communications for Wylie ISD, said in a statement.
Sims taught English and was an assistant director of the school drill team.
Media reports stated a 17-year old student told an adult on campus that he had been having sex with his English teacher. He claimed these included sexual encounters in her classroom.
“We are extremely shocked and saddened by these allegations,” the district said in a statement. “Wylie ISD is cooperating fully with the investigation, and we have taken all appropriate actions in accordance with the law and district policy.”
The teacher was arrested on December 18, 2013, on suspicion of having an improper relationship between an educator and a student. She was booked into the Collin County jail on the second-degree felony and later released on a $25,000 bond.
A string of cases in which school staff and teachers have been accused of inappropriate relationships with minors, have made headlines in Texas over the last few years.
In 2012, Diana Almanza, a 47-year-old school bus driver from Texas, was charged with sexual assault of a minor.
In the same year Brittni Colleps, a 27-year-old English teacher at Kennedale High School in Arlington, Texas, was found guilty of 16 counts of having improper relationships with students. She was sentenced to five years in jail.
The case raised interesting legal questions because the five students were over 18 – the minimum age of consent in Texas. Some of the students said they did not consider themselves to be victims during the trial.
Cases involving female teachers, who are accused of being involved in relationships with students, invariably make headlines. Those accused may feel the odds are stacked against them from the start due to the media attention. However, the testimonies of students can be unreliable. It’s important to hire a criminal defense attorney with considerable experience in dealing with these kinds of cases.
