Taylor teacher on paid leave after allegedly making inappropriate comments to students
Taylor teacher on leave, accused of making inappropriate comments
The president of the school board confirms the teacher in question has been placed on paid leave while the District investigates.
TAYLOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - The investigation continues into a veteran Taylor teacher accused of making sexual comments to female students, with allegations dating back several years.
Big picture view:
The president of the school board confirms the teacher in question has been placed on paid leave while the District investigates. This as more former students speak out.
On Tuesday, FOX 2 told you about a teacher who allegedly spent years making inappropriate comments to female students while teaching at Taylor High School before later moving to a middle school, according to District officials.
Parents and former students allege he made young girls feel targeted and uncomfortable by talking about their physical appearance, the clothes they wore, and what they call unwanted advances.
What they're saying:
On Thursday, FOX 2 pressed the school board president, who was also the former Taylor teachers union president, on the investigation and what happened next.
"The teacher in question is out on leave while the investigation is going on and we’ll take it from there," said School Board President Linda Moore. "He’s on a paid leave, yes."
"I was like scared to ask questions in his class immediately because," said one former student. "I felt weird. Like talking to him because the way he would look at you, the way he’d speak to you - he’d try to talk slow and seductive when he talked to women. It was weird. So I just didn’t want to ask a question."
"He would make comments about me in my softball uniform or my volleyball uniform — about my nice legs or things like that. And 17-year-old me giggled and laughed it off. I was like heh, whatever," another said. "I didn’t think anything of it."
"I was the president of the Taylor Federation of Teachers at one time during, for 15 years and during that time this particular teacher in question had never had any trouble," a third told FOX 2. "I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd because there were never any issues."
The other side:
FOX 2 will not name the teacher because he has not been charged with a crime. We spoke to him by phone, and he has denied the accusations, but declined to comment further on the record.