So, if that's the reason the law exists, shouldn't this law be expanded to include anyone who's in a position of power over anyone else? I mean, you could use the exact same example in the college setting, but then it's not against the law. I did find the actual law: ยง 21.12. IMPROPER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATOR[0] AND STUDENT[0]. (a) An employee of a public or private primary or secondary school commits an offense if the employee engages in sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with a person who is enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school at which the employee works and who is not the employee's spouse. (b) An offense under this section is a felony[0] of the second degree. (c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted under either section or both sections.
I don't mind them being attracted to each other; that's not a big age difference. They just need to wait until they don't have a power differential to do something about it. (i.e. the time when she is not his teacher anymore and isn't going to be) This is the same thing I say about college student/teacher relationships. In those cases, both parties are probably of age, and if the teacher is not the student's own current or future teacher or supervisor, I don't see anything wrong with it. It's different when you have a direct power/authority relationship, like when one is still influencing the other's grades or still teaching the other. That's when it gets unethical. In the case of a high school, since the vast majority of students will be under 18, I can understand having a rule against any teacher having a relationship with any student. If the student is of age, then it can't possibly be that long until they graduate anyway, so if both parties want to they should just wait.
I agree to the extent that there needs to be ethics rules that prevent teachers, professors, whoever from exploiting students/whoever or even to keep the appearance of impropriety out of it. Fire 'em. Whatever. You won't get an argument out of me about that. My beef is that if we're going to make it a 2nd Degree Felony for public and private school teachers to do it, we should do the same for college professors and anyone else we think of who could exploit an underling. My 18 year-old niece deserves no less protection this summer when she's in college than she did a month ago when she was in high school. Heck, when I was 17, I took classes at both my public high school and at a local community college. It's interesting that, had I had sex with both my professor and one of my high school teachers (assuming I had a professor or a teacher I would've wanted to have sex with), the high school teacher is guilty of a 2nd Degree felony while the college professor doing exactly the same thing would be guilty of nothing.
Bump...Well, does this mean she's back on the market...Oh Snap, I have to be in High School...Note to self, build time machine, stat... Free at Last No Indictment For Teacher Accused Of Sex With Student Charges have been dropped against a North Texas teacher and former Miss Texas accused of having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student. After hearing the case this week, a Denton County grand jury decided not to indict Amy McElhenney. McElhenney resigned from her job at Hebron High School in Carrollton after her arrest in May. The former Spanish teacher was 25 at the time.
