Rincon High School teacher fired for relationship with student www.privateofficer.com
The TUSD Governing Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to dismiss Jennifer Lynn Whiting.
Whiting had been on paid leave and was scheduled to appeal her termination on Sept. 21 but will not have the opportunity due to a new state statute.
State law required Whiting to inform the school district of her sex-crime-related arrest, but she failed to do so, said TUSD legal counsel Rob Ross. As a result, her appeal hearing was canceled.
“Under the statute she is required to inform us,” Ross said. “If a person fails to do so, we shall dismiss them. In this case, we knew of her arrest, we were aware of it, but she never told us herself.”
Whiting’s attorney, Dan Cooper, said the statute isn’t clear as to who must give the notification, but said TUSD was notified. “She was in jail so she couldn’t immediately notify anyone,” Cooper said.
Whiting’s only appeal option now as far as her job is concerned is to file a lawsuit or a special action, Cooper said. He did not know if Whiting intended to do that.
Whiting, 32, was arrested in a “sexting” case June 25. Suspicions about Whiting first arose on the last day of school – May 26, according to TUSD’s statement of charges.
On that day, the student’s female cousin was to pick up the boy, his brother and his male cousin at a nearby park after school.
The boy’s brother and male cousin made it to the park, but the boy didn’t. The female cousin called the boy and told him to meet her at the park.
Sometime later, a car pulled up and the boy got out. The female cousin thought she recognized the driver of the car as Whiting, but the driver held her hand up to her face and drove away.
The female cousin followed the car and tried to get a better look, but the driver continued to hide her face.
The incident was reported to the boy’s father, who contacted police.
The father also reportedly found sexual photos of Whiting on his son’s cell phone.
Whiting had sexual contact with the boy four times from May 26 through June 23 and also involved the boy in an undisclosed drug offense three times during that period, according to an indictment
Source:AZSTARNET.com
