ODESSA, Texas — Over the weekend of August 8-9, two former students at Odessa Collegiate Academy reported that a teacher and a student had been involved in an improper relationship during spring semester.
Ector County ISD officials immediately placed the teacher on paid administrative leave, and ECISD police began an investigation.
The investigation culminated today with the arrest of the teacher, William Boone.
Boone is charged with Improper Relationship between Educator and Student, a second-degree felony.
“We are angry. Inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. As a school district, we have taken steps to combat this. We require sexual harassment training each year, and this training includes very clear warnings of the consequences for employee-student relationships. There is no excuse for our employees to misunderstand the seriousness of these actions," said ECISD Superintendent Dr. Scott Muri in a statement.
"We want you, our staff, our parents and our community to know we will continue to do everything we can to prevent this behavior. I want to add: we are extremely thankful for our teachers – the 99.9% of them – who are committed to helping kids every day," continued Muri.
Boone began teaching in ECISD in August 2000, and has worked at Crockett Middle School in addition to OCA, with no prior complaints.
District officials also want to thank the students who came forward with this information, and ask all community members that if they suspect something like this is happening please alert the school, the school district, or law enforcement.