Mentor, OHIO

The boy had just completed ninth grade.
Former Student Teacher of the Year at her college and sex acts in a classroom before school started.
Sentenced to three years in prison.

June 19, 2008 - Maggie Laughlin, 23, a math teacher at Shore Junior High School, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned Thursday on one count of of sexual battery and one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Sex acts with the student, who just completed ninth grade, were conducted in a classroom before school started, said Capt. James Telzrow.

The relationship with the 15-year-old male began in May. Laughlin resigned in June. She had been with the district less than a year.

First article says that the authorities became aware of the relationship when the boy's ex-girlfriend's mother contacted a school official. Second article states that "Administrators say they were informed of the alleged sexual contact between teacher and student by another student on June 12 and immediately notified Mentor Police."

"This crime is a devastating betrayal of the fundamental trust that parents put in their children's teachers ever day," said Dr. Jacqueline Hoynes, superintendent of schools.
. . .
"We are grateful that one of our students had the courage to tell a teacher about this situation," Hoynes said. "It is so important that students take the appropriate action when they have information like this, and we will continue to strive to create an environment in our schools where students can do so."

Article at the Cleveland Plain Dealer states that another student told a coach about the sexual activity. Police and school officials said there were eight to 10 incidents of sexual misconduct between the student and the math teacher but not intercourse.

She is originally from Dayton and had been Student Teacher of the Year at Heidelberg College, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2007, according to the school's Web site.

Laughlin had resigned from Shore on June 9 - before the police investigation began - and planned to move to Michigan, officials said.

June 20 - Teacher faces sex charges (News-Herald)
Laughlin performed oral sex on the boy before classes. It happened eight times between May 28 and June 12, when the alleged relationship came to light.

Officials learned about the suspected relationship through the boy's former girlfriend. When the boy told her he was cheating on her with a teacher, she was too upset to go to sports practice. She told her mother, who told her coach, who informed Shore Junior High School Principal Doug Baker, police said.

Laughlin had been planning to move to Michigan with her fiance, which is why the prosecution asked for a higher bond. The judge set it at $200,000.

Laughlin's preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 26.

GUILTY PLEA August 13 - Laughlin pleaded guilty to Wednesday to eight counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a juvenile.

"I became involved with a student and the relationship became sexual in nature and I performed oral sex on him," Laughlin said to Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Mitrovich.

She will be sentenced later this month.

SENTENCED August 28 - Laughlin was sentenced to three years in prison, the time requested by the prosecution. The job at Shore teaching math was Laughlin's first teaching assignment out of college.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: (August 28) She claimed the ninth grader initiated the relationship when he got access to her cell phone number and began sending her text messages. Assistant Prosecutor Jason Wuliger said Laughlin on her behavior.

"She corrupted the school, lied to other teachers and asked other students who witnessed the behavior to keep her secret," Wuliger said.

Lake County Common Pleas Judge Paul Mitrovich sentenced her. "As a teacher you were placed in a position of trust," Mitrovich said. "You showed uncaring selfishness on your part."

Laughlin will be a registered sex offender for twenty-five years.

School officials and a lawyer talk to first-year teachers about inappropriate behavior in the classroom, including what constitutes sexual battery, before the school year begins, Carrabine said.

"This year we specifically addressed Maggie's incident and hammered it home," he said. "We told teachers never to meet with the student one on one with the door closed, never to meet before school starts and not to meet with a student without an administrator in the building."
Laughlin will relinquish her teaching license and have to register her address every six months for the next 25 years.

November 3 - Three months after being sentenced, she is seeking release.
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TT - Several things require comment. One, her license should be revoked automatically upon such a conviction. That would be a punitive action and speak positively about how the educational bureaucracy views such behavior. It is automatic in Ohio but it also means the teacher has the right of appeal. Still, it sends a bad message.

Secondly, teacher training in a lot of school districts is conducted by a teachers union lawyer or a lawyer for the school district whose focus is on district liability and false accusations and how to avoid them, not on how teachers have a moral obligation to students and to their parents to avoid sexual exploitation of students.

That's hardly the kind of ethical training you want for your child's teacher. And it leads to a widespread belief by teachers and administrators that when a student complains about sexual exploitation, the charges have no merit. It is automatically thought of as false, malicious and slanderous, rather than indecent, immoral and disgusting behavior on the part of the teacher.

For those teachers who do see the colleague's behavior as unethical and illegal, they can't miss the broadest implication. Turning in another teacher isn't in the game plan and shouldn't be in theirs, not if they want to be defended by the same union lawyers if they should be accused. And not if they want to be supported by the administration. Such training should be conducted by a local prosecutor and police detectives.

Hopefully, one of the really, really good newspapers, like the Columbus Dispatch that has done so much to bring accountability, open records and responsible legislation will investigate the so-called teacher training programs in school districts in the state.