The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a first-degree sexual misconduct charge Tuesday in Superior Court, a class C felony, against Barbara Jeanne Anderson, a Kentlake High School teacher.
The 37-year-old math teacher is alleged to have had sexual contact with a 17-year-old male student who was in her class at the school.
The relationship was discovered when the boy’s mother found hundreds of text messages between the two in the space of about three weeks.
According to the probable cause document, the student met Anderson when he transferred into her math class his sophomore year. The document noted she gave him extra help with math.
He was also in her math class this school year and he would go to her planning period for help and miss his first-period class.
Toward the end of 2010, the student’s mother became concerned about his behavior. The school contacted the mother about the student missing his first-period class. Over Christmas break, the boy’s girlfriend broke up with him.
According to the document, the mother received text messages from a friend of her son stating he was “acting odd and suicidal.”
During a meeting at school that included Anderson concerning the student’s behavior, the mother suggested taking away his text messaging.
According to the document, Anderson said at the meeting text messages were his lifeline and that he was “very sensitive and she keeps him with her on the day he is very emotional and unstable.”
Following the meeting the mother became suspicious about the relationship. She checked the cell phone records and found nearly 800 messages between Anderson and her son from Jan. 25 to Feb. 18. On one day the document noted there were 101 text messages between them.
The student was also suspended from school for fighting with a friend and the document said Anderson pleaded “teary-eyed” with an assistant principal stating the other student started the fight.
The assistant principal also became suspicious about the relationship and told Anderson to “stop all personal contact” with the student, to stop communicating outside of the school day and her personal cell phone was not to be used to contact him.
The student’s mother also sent a text message to Anderson Feb. 21 at 11 p.m. ordering her to stop contacting her son.
According to the document, the boy told his uncle he was having a sexual relationship with a teacher. The uncle told the boy’s mother and she reported this to the school.
The document goes on to describe the ongoing relationship through text messages, a social networking website and eventually sexual contact.
According to Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff’s Office, the school notified the sheriff’s office March 8 and an investigation was started, which resulted in the arrest of the teacher March 17. She was released from jail the next day.
Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office stated Anderson was released on her personal recognizance. The arraignment hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 4 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, courtroom GA, when Anderson will be asked to enter a plea to the first-degree sexual misconduct charge.
The prosecutor also requested from the court that Anderson have no contact with the student, all minors, except her two minor children. The prosecutor also requested she be prohibited from going onto the school property, except to the administrative office for job-related reasons.
The prosecutor also requested Anderson be “barred from any employment where children are present or where she will have a supervisory relationship over anyone.”
Donohoe said the sentencing range for the charge is six months to 12 months.
The statute used in this case is written to prohibit teachers (or other school employees) from having sexual intercourse with students who are 16 or 17 years old, when the employee is at least five years older than the student.
The age of consent for a sexual relationship is 16 in Washington state.
According to the school district Anderson is on paid administrative leave.
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