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I saw this on the news today but can't find any pictures of her. Now this time she is 22 and the guy is 18. But it's a felony charge in NC, due to some law about having a relationship with a student at that level of school or below. She had a myspace account, but it looks to be vacated. :thumbsdow
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pb.../60414075/1119
April 15, 2006 6:00 am
WEAVERVILLE — A teacher’s assistant, fired after accusations she had sex with an 18-year-old North Buncombe High School senior, turned herself in to authorities Friday afternoon.
Heather Marie Shelton, 22, was released after promising to appear in court Monday or pay a $25,000 bond. The Weaverville resident could spend 10 months or more in prison and be required to register as a sex offender if convicted.
As Shelton was booked on a charge of sexual activity with a student, North Buncombe’s student body and staff prepared to leave school for spring break. They could use the time off.
“It’s been a tough week,” Principal Jack Evans said.
Students were getting some assignments done Friday despite rumors flying and at least two conspicuous absences — Shelton and her fiance, a teacher at the school. Both graduated in 2005 from Mars Hill College and have worked at North Buncombe less than a year.
Neither could be reached Friday. Nor could the 18-year-old student. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department had previously said he was 19.
Sheriff’s Department Detective Anne Benjamin said the investigation began after a parent of the 18-year-old become suspicious of a relationship between the two and contacted authorities.
At North Buncombe High School, a few students were undecided whether any such relationship between two consenting adults four years apart in age merits a criminal charge.
Shelton, who worked with special-needs students until her firing Tuesday, did not teach the 18-year-old student. Investigators said it doesn’t appear they met at school.
Ethically, Evans said, relationships are “not a gray area.”
“The community and parents expect a lot out of us,” the principal said, “and we’re expected to be at another level.”
Buncombe County Schools spokesman Stan Alleyne said officials hope punishments for Shelton and others in the district charged with sex offenses serve as examples.
Another North Buncombe High School teacher, ROTC instructor Edwin Danny Reaid, was convicted in January of taking indecent liberties with a child. In March, Erwin High School band director James Patrick Carney was arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old student.
All new teachers attend a workshop that covers ethical issues, Alleyne said, while employees in their first three years as licensed teachers undergo more frequent training.
Teacher’s aides would not attend such training, he said, but individual schools discuss appropriate relationships with all employees at meetings.
Officials do not plan any new safeguards, Alleyne said.
A UNC Chapel Hill professor who studies ethical issues in education said the boundaries are clear.
“It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with position,” Gerald Unks said. “Teachers don’t take advantage of students.”
Further, “a kid who is 22 years of age and has gone to college is decidedly different than a kid who is 17 or 18 years of age,” Unks said. “… It’s not just any four years. It’s a very significant four years.”
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pb.../60414075/1119
April 15, 2006 6:00 am
WEAVERVILLE — A teacher’s assistant, fired after accusations she had sex with an 18-year-old North Buncombe High School senior, turned herself in to authorities Friday afternoon.
Heather Marie Shelton, 22, was released after promising to appear in court Monday or pay a $25,000 bond. The Weaverville resident could spend 10 months or more in prison and be required to register as a sex offender if convicted.
As Shelton was booked on a charge of sexual activity with a student, North Buncombe’s student body and staff prepared to leave school for spring break. They could use the time off.
“It’s been a tough week,” Principal Jack Evans said.
Students were getting some assignments done Friday despite rumors flying and at least two conspicuous absences — Shelton and her fiance, a teacher at the school. Both graduated in 2005 from Mars Hill College and have worked at North Buncombe less than a year.
Neither could be reached Friday. Nor could the 18-year-old student. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department had previously said he was 19.
Sheriff’s Department Detective Anne Benjamin said the investigation began after a parent of the 18-year-old become suspicious of a relationship between the two and contacted authorities.
At North Buncombe High School, a few students were undecided whether any such relationship between two consenting adults four years apart in age merits a criminal charge.
Shelton, who worked with special-needs students until her firing Tuesday, did not teach the 18-year-old student. Investigators said it doesn’t appear they met at school.
Ethically, Evans said, relationships are “not a gray area.”
“The community and parents expect a lot out of us,” the principal said, “and we’re expected to be at another level.”
Buncombe County Schools spokesman Stan Alleyne said officials hope punishments for Shelton and others in the district charged with sex offenses serve as examples.
Another North Buncombe High School teacher, ROTC instructor Edwin Danny Reaid, was convicted in January of taking indecent liberties with a child. In March, Erwin High School band director James Patrick Carney was arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old student.
All new teachers attend a workshop that covers ethical issues, Alleyne said, while employees in their first three years as licensed teachers undergo more frequent training.
Teacher’s aides would not attend such training, he said, but individual schools discuss appropriate relationships with all employees at meetings.
Officials do not plan any new safeguards, Alleyne said.
A UNC Chapel Hill professor who studies ethical issues in education said the boundaries are clear.
“It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with position,” Gerald Unks said. “Teachers don’t take advantage of students.”
Further, “a kid who is 22 years of age and has gone to college is decidedly different than a kid who is 17 or 18 years of age,” Unks said. “… It’s not just any four years. It’s a very significant four years.”
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