A school sports teacher has been arrested and charged with felonies after reports surfaced that she had an "inappropriate" relationship with one of her students.
Former Gwinnett County high school teacher Sarah Katherine Brooks, who is 25 years old, was booked into Gwinnett County Jail on Friday, according to a report from AJC News, and faces a charge of sexual assault by persons with supervisory or disciplinary authority, jail records show.
Last Tuesday, the principal at Archer High School Ken Johnson wrote a letter to parents at the school that police had opened an investigation into one of the teachers at the school, after reports circulated of an inappropirate relationship between a student and a teacher.
He wrote:
"On Monday we received a report about this situation and our school immediately contacted the police and the school district's Division of Human Resources. As this has been and continues to be an active police investigation there are not many details I can share.
However, I can tell you that the teacher has resigned from Gwinnett County Public Schools and the school system will be forwarding information about these allegations to the Professional Standards Commission."
Brooks, whose name had previously not been released to the public, resigned as the investigation moved forward, and continuing in his letter, Johnson described the behaviour of the 25-year-old as unacceptable in the Gwinnett County school system.
"While this is not a situation we have experienced at our school previously, one time is too many," he said. "Ethics matter, and the trust our community places in its educators matters to Archer and to Gwinnett County Public Schools. This is not something we take for granted."
Speaking to Channel 2 Action News, the victim's mother slammed Brooks as a "predator", saying that the boy, who is reportedly 17 years old, had had sex during off-campus tutoring.
"Never did I think he would be preyed upon by his teacher. She wasn't tutoring my son. She came here with a specific purpose and that was to have sex with my son. She's a predator" accused the mother while speaking to local news sources.
Brooks was his physical education teacher, the mother said, claiming that the two had engaged in sexual activity at least three times - twice in the teacher's home and once, reportedly, in the victim's home as his mother was at work.
Sadly, this is but the latest in a series of allegations of inappropriate student-teacher relationships in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
In December of last year, a band director at South Gwinnett High School pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four students in less than three years on the job. Villie Jones admitted to 20 charges of 20 charges of sexual assault by a person with supervisory or disciplinary authority, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 20 years of probation.
Ahead of a further appearance in court, Brooks was released on a $11,200 bond.
