Washington Court: Teachers Can Have Sex With 18-Year-Old Students

[bijou]

SEATTLE —  Washington state law does not bar teachers from having sex with 18-year-old students.

That's the decision of a three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals, which on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of a case brought against Hoquiam High School's former choir teacher.

The teacher, Matthew Hirschfelder, was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor. He challenged a judge's refusal to dismiss his case. The appeals court unanimously agreed that the state law is vague, and that the Legislature only intended to forbid sexual contact between school employees and students who are 16 or 17. ...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479817,00.html

My view is that teachers shouldn't be having sex with students at all. They are in a position of authority and there is always a risk of abuse of that authority, if they are genuinely in love they can wait until the student has graduated.

[thundley4]

My sister married a teacher from our school while she was still 17, he was 35.  But he was also our next door neighbor and a family friend.  That was almost 36 years ago, and they are still married.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I agree, however if the charge was "With a minor" and she wasn't one, there are some rather foreseeable problems with prosecuting the case.  Sounds like their legislature tried to roll too much baggage into one law, and probably should have classified an entirely separate offense covering taking advantage of a position of superior authority for sexual favors.

[Splashdown]

Could be handled in the teachers' contract, as no real law is broken.

[Eupher]

This appears to be one of those cases where, from a legal perspective (and that's all the court is dealing with here), the law was sufficiently ambiguous as to dismiss the case against the teacher (who did resign from his job).

From a moral perspective, however, the teacher clearly abused his power as a teacher. He had no business messing with ANY student, irrespective of age.

But morals often can't be legislated.

I think the title of the story is a bit disengenuous and, like most news account titles, is meant to titillate and provoke.

[terry]

Could be handled in the teachers' contract, as no real law is broken.

That was my thought.   It doesn't need to be illegal, just make it clear that it's a rule and will cause dismissal if broken.

It would be interesting to watch the union fight the rule.

[Splashdown]

That was my thought.   It doesn't need to be illegal, just make it clear that it's a rule and will cause dismissal if broken.

It would be interesting to watch the union fight the rule.

Kind of sad that there are teachers who need to have that particular behavior addressed.

[Airwolf]

They just arrested a  theacher here in Iowa for the same thing. I don't think he is going to get off as easy as the one inWashington state. The otherside of the coin now is that they just gave someone a green light to go after anyone thats 18 years old and start an affair untill they pass a law barring it.

[rich_t]

They just arrested a  theacher here in Iowa for the same thing. I don't think he is going to get off as easy as the one inWashington state. The otherside of the coin now is that they just gave someone a green light to go after anyone thats 18 years old and start an affair untill they pass a law barring it.

They don't need a law against it.  As someone upthread has already posted..  merely make it part of the employment contract.