The girl was 14 years old. No sex, but, sheeze, even his wife was freaked out.
August 5, 2008 - Mark Oppenneer, 37, a tenured English teacher at Saratoga Springs High School, will be fired after a hearing by the State Education Department determined he had an inappropriate relationship with one of his students in 2007. The 36-page state report recommended the firing, but did not indicate whether Oppenneer will lose his teaching license.
He was charged by the Saratoga Springs City School District with twelve counts of misconduct in September of 2007 after the mother of one of his former ninth-grade students discovered email and online correspondences between the two.
Examples of misconduct, according to the district, included Oppenneer inviting the student to meet for lunch or coffee on several occasions; his corresponding with her via telephone, text messages and MySpace; his exchanging CDs with her; and his giving her a leather notebook.
Throughout those correspondences [with the girl,] Oppenneer admitted several times knowing the relationship had developed to a point that would be deemed inappropriate by his wife, the girl's parents, school officials and "society" at large, saying, for example:District officials began to investigate Oppenneer when the girl's parents discovered the emails the two had been sending each other and contacted State Police, who in turn began talking to school and district officials. No criminal charges were filed, and there were no allegations of a physical relationship.
- "My wife became very upset this afternoon. She perused our conversations and found them very disturbing... I also imagine it would freak your parents out, too. And perhaps the school officials... not to mention the police." (June 22, 2007)
- "It's that whole what society thinks thing -- that somehow the mere feeling that I enjoy communication with you is bad. If you were a mom and you knew your daughter was up at 1:36 doing this, you would feel pretty upset." (August 17, 2007)
- "I'd be hard pressed to explain to other adults (my wife included) the nature of our friendship." (August 26, 2007)
August 13 - Oppenneer was fired Tuesday from Saratoga Springs High School by a unanimous vote of the school board.
