As Southern Boone teachers prepared to get the 2018-19 school year under way, SoBoCo superintendent Chris Felmlee gathered faculty and administration on Monday afternoon for a speaker with a sobering topic – teachers who have inappropriate relationships and/or sexually assault students entitled: “Crossing the Line: When Educators Become Predators.”

Gary Moore, who formerly worked in law enforcement, said the training session was somewhat controversial, but he applauded Felmlee and the school district for taking the time to provide information to their teachers.

“You are one of the first school districts to have this training session,” said Moore, who is a safety specialist with the Missouri School Board Association.

Felmlee and the SoBoCo school board had good reason to provide the training – in June a SoBoCo High School faculty member was forced to resign after it was discovered he had an inappropriate texting relationship with a Southern Boone student.

Felmlee said two law enforcement agencies investigated the situation and it was ruled that there was no sexual contact and no laws were broken. However, the faculty member clearly crossed the line, Felmlee said.

“On June 5” of this year “I was notified of an allegation that one of the district’s employees violated district policy regarding appropriate communications with a student,” Felmlee said of the incident. “We took immediate and substantial steps in response to the allegation. As a result, the employee resigned and is no longer employed by the district.”

~ Read the rest in today’s Journal ~

By Bruce Wallace