It's inappropriate - PERIOD - for a teacher to have sex with a student through graduation from high school.

Illegal, no... fraternization, yes which is probably against the school districts policy and would justify disciplinary action.

Well, she's 18 so it's not statutory rape. If the school wants to have their own policies about this, they should be able to.

Not sure if the teacher should go to jail though.

It should be illegal for teachers to have sex with students, period, regardless of age.

18-year-olds are very vulnerable, curious and often infatuated making them prime targets for teachers...especially when there are no consequences for teachers preying on students. Luckily most teachers wouldn't consider it, and unfortunate no one has the power to stop them if they do.

Nyara- then what about college? I think that if I were in school, at 18 and felt like I wanted to have sex with a teacher, that would be my decision. I guess I am looking at it from the 18 year olds perspective. Yes I think it is a conflict of interest for the teacher to be even speaking to the student away from school, but it is not illegal, nor should be. 2 consenting adults...

As long as it's not in school and the teacher isn't showing perference when grading or didn't try to bribe them. But chances of that happening is slim.

The teacher should have to face jail time. But the teacher should not be allowed to teach high school students any longer.

In this particular case it's about the power dynamic and it is totally inappropriate.

hainan this is high school where we have minors, in college there are no minors and i feel that the no sex rule should apply to every student regardless of age. teachers are in a bigger position of trust than college professors as far as i'm concerned and if they are abusing that trust then they should be punished.

Inappropriate, yes. Not illegal.
They are many high profile instances of things being inappropriate. A boss and his secretary / boss and interns/ mentors etc. ick.. yes but still no illegal.

Wow thats really nasty. I dont care how old the kid she's still in high scool!
gross.

But this student wasn't a minor. There are students in high up to age 20 in some areas. I do think the teacher should face punishment from the school district according to their fraternization policy.

It's clearly not illegal, but has got to be against school/school district policy which should justify disciplinary action up to firing the teacher.

It is absolutely not illegal, but I think that it would go against the rules of the school district. This teacher should definitely lose their job!

I don't think anyone here is in support of teachers banging their students, in high school or in college. I know many colleges have policies against it. I would assume that most highschools would too.

The problem of deciding that people are adults at 18 is that it's very arbitrary. I know 30 year olds who aren't adults yet. But I can't think of a better way to decide when someone gets to make their own decisions and deal with the consequences.

I think because the student is 18 -it isn't illegal but the student is STILL in high school and therefore not mentally prepared for this. So I think the teacher should be fired or prevented from teaching again.

No one is in favor of teachers seducing their students. But if the student and the teacher are adults, then it's not illegal. Personally, I don't think that a high school teacher who has sex with his/her student should be allowed to teach anymore because the teacher clearly has poor judgment, but it's simply not illegal.

I think Jail would be good for him, that way he can learn what it means to be "taken" advantage of.

I'm with most of you...it's not illegal, it shouldn't be illegal. But it should DEFINITELY be against school policy and warrants termination of employment.

And unreads aren't showing up again...

what does that mean blue?

Oh I wish they would just go back to the old format on citizen!

I agree, I can't stand this new format!

Oh, blue, it was just working earlier, too!
I am sure they will get it working again

Hain... on the top of the thread it says "25 comments" and if there were any in the thread you hadn't read it would say "25 comments, 1 new". I don't really subscribe to every single thread on Citizen. So I'd use the unreads to jump to the newest comments. And now it's not working again

I'm sure it's a bug that needs to be fixed...

Guess I need to subscribe!

I'm posting just to complain about this layout. It's bad enough it ruined PopSugar for me. Now my beloved CitizenSugar? Now that is just wrong

Oh, the "new posts" feature is back!

I'm with bluesarahloe here, yes, it's not illegal, but it should definitely against school policy and warrants the termination of that teacher's employment.
When I was in college, I remember there's a policy against professors AND assistant teachers dating students whether they're in their class or not.

Oh whether she's of age of not it's completely unethical. Teachers have no business doing anything with their students.

I think that the power is too unequal - raising questions about it being consensual between two people coming from an emotionally mature decision, yet I don't think that it can be called illegal with jail time being the result.
However it is most definitely inappropriate, and he should be banned from teaching.

I co-sign on hating the new format!!!!! I know she's not a minor but if we say that it's okay because she is 18, I think we are leaving room for all kinds of legal junk(not feeling very articulate today) to come up later. It should just be a no across the board, a very emphatic no.

Hainan, I believe high school students should be protected from situations they are ill-equipped or experienced enough to know the ultimate danger it puts them in mentally ~ and physically. If you're 18 and have sex with your 35-year-old teacher, it changes you and how you view other potential partners...will partners your own age ever be exciting enough? The student will generally believe the teacher is in love with her/him and the teacher suddenly becomes bigger than life. For the teacher, the student is a sexual conquest for amusement and satisfaction to be used until they're bored with him/her. The student is left devasted and the teacher goes on his/her merry way to their next conquest ~ because they are generally sociopaths. It's unlikely an 18-year-old has the education or knowledge to be mentally interesting or challenging enough to keep an older partner once the initial infatuation has worn off, but a college-educated 23-year-old might.

That's gross, and the teacher should absolutely be terminated with a black mark on his record that prevents him from ever teaching again, but as long as the girl was consenting, I don't think this should be prosecuted as a criminal offense. It's true that teachers have an unfair amount of influence over their students and probably find it very easy to take advantage of them, but if there was a law against one legal adult taking advantage of the weaknesses of another legal adult, probably about 65% of the adult population would be serving time.

hope2be, how does that work? Undergrads aren't allowed to date grad students? That's silly. I dated a guy in college who went on to get his grad degree right after his undergrad - if he'd gotten his grad degree at my school, regardless of the fact that we'd been dating off and on for six years at the time he started his grad degree, I wouldn't be allowed to date him, just because he helps teach classes in a completely different department? That seems like a silly policy.

But the teacher in question in WA surely shouldn't be given another teaching job. Ever.

I'm with Jude C that if there was a law against having sex with someone while exploiting some sort of emotional weakness, at least half of the adults in this country would be prosecuted for that.

Isn't sex outside of wedlock illegal?

"if there was a law against having sex with someone while exploiting some sort of emotional weakness, at least half of the adults in this country would be prosecuted for that."

Yeah, I could think of a few people who'd be in for a visit from the po-po.

HUH?!

If that were the case goon take to jail...like a lot of times...

oops! I meant take ME to jail..

BTW I hate this layout too! Not only does the "1 new" feature not work as good but it seems slower.
bah.

I like the look of the new layout. I'm sure they will eventually fix all the bugs with it.

We must be patient...

If you dislike this new format as much as I do people. I just posted a blog on it http://teamsugar.com/user/Myst/blog/2700448. Please comment or do one and send it to the SugarInc. This new format sucks and it's way to busy for me.

I'm not a fan of the new layout either! I do think the old one was outdated, but this is a little too much.

Since the student is legally required (more or less) to be in school, and the teacher is in a position of power over her, I think it ought to be illegal for him to have sex with her.

"but if there was a law against one legal adult taking advantage of the weaknesses of another legal adult, probably about 65% of the adult population would be serving time. "

Jude, the difference here is that although the girl is legally an adult and can consent, she still is obligated by law to be in school, and cannot escape that situation in which this man is her superior (without dropping out, of course).

I for one miss my Diamond status, you just dont take away a girls diamond you know? And do they understand how many "guess whos" i had to endure to get that diamond?

I also dont like any part of the new format. its confusing, ugly, hard to navigate, and MESSY