TEA Investigating More Shady Student-Teacher Relationships The Texas Education Agency is reporting a rise in the number of investigations opened on allegations of inappropriate student-teacher relationships over the past three years, according to newly released numbers by the agency. The number of investigations into student-teacher relationships has risen from 141 in 2009-10 to 179 in 2013-14, according to the agency. Under the state penal code, a school district employee who engages in sexual contact with a student is committing a second-degree felony, even if the student is 18 years of age or older. While it's clear that the numbers have gone up, no reason is cited for the increase. Local school district superintendents are required to report allegations of inappropriate relationships at the local level and state level, and the higher number of incident reports could be because folks are getting better about identifying and reporting improper educator-student relationships. Or it could simply be because there are more shady teachers hanging out at Texas schools, so more are getting caught. But whatever the cause, allegations of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students do seem to be pretty prevalent in the news as of late. Continue reading... http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/..._teacher-student_relationship_allegations.php
