Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Metro-east teacher resigns amid probe of alleged improper conduct with student

A Granite City special education teacher recently resigned her position amid a police investigation involving allegations of improper conduct with an 18-year-old male student.

Granite City Superintendent Harry Briggs, declined to discuss details in the case, other than to say, "There are certain things you can do, and certain things you can't do. And if you do these things, you shouldn't be in education."

The 37-year-old teacher, who resigned for personal reasons from Granite City High School last week, was not criminally charged. In a brief interview, she denied any wrongdoing.

An 18-year-old male student linked to the investigation declined to comment.

"When we found out about it, we immediately did an investigation that got her out of the educational setting," Briggs said.

While Granite City Police say they have finished their investigation without finding any criminal violations, Briggs said the full story of what prompted police to get involved remains unknown.

"All of this is unfolding as we speak," Briggs said. "We are still involved in an investigation. There are a number of issues."

"No criminal activity was discovered," Granite City Police Chief Rich Miller said. He said the results of his department's investigation were placed in an "informational report," which is not a public record.

"There were a bunch of rumors floating around," Briggs said. "We weren't sure what it was at the time; there were a number of rumors floating around that we were concerned about and that's when we had our resource officer start doing some work on it."

A 26-year-old teacher's aide in the Granite City School District also was the subject of the police investigation, Briggs said. Her attorney, Glen Carbon attorney Robert Ramsey, could not be reached for comment. Briggs said the teacher's aide is still working in the district.

"Any time there is a violation of the public trust, it's my responsibility to see that we protect the kids, and that's where we're proceeding," he said.