MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - A Middletown City Schools teacher resigned Tuesday while under investigation by police for possible sexual behavior with students, the Journal-News reported.
The teacher wrote he was resigning for “personal and professional reasons,” according to a one-sentence letter in his personnel folder.
The teacher allegedly began texting with several female students, then had sexual contact with them after they turned 18, Lt. Scott Reeve said.
Three to five students may have been involved, Reeve said.
The teacher has not been arrested, but detectives plan to take the results of the investigation to a Butler County grand jury, according to Reeve.
The district placed the teacher on paid administrative leave on Oct. 20 pending the outcome of the investigation, according to a letter signed by Deborah Houser, senior director of human resources of Middletown City Schools.
The investigation began that day after Middletown High School Resource Officer Luke Agee was told by school administrators that a student wanted to report possible inappropriate behavior by a teacher, according to a police report.
Because of his position as a teacher, laws may have been broken even if the students were 18 years old at the time, according to Reeve.
Reeve said there was a previous complaint against the teacher last year, but Reeve said the female was a college student when the allegations came to light and chose not to cooperate in the investigation.
The teacher's personnel file noted that he had been charged three years ago with neglect of duty, gross negligence, failing to follow the “reasonable rules and regulations” of the board and for making an inappropriate comment to a student.
On Oct. 22, 2014, he allegedly pushed a student and made an “inappropriate” comment to the student, according to his personnel file. Nine days later he received a “written disciplinary notice.”
“This is a personnel matter we are not able to discuss,” Superintendent Marlon Styles said in an email.
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