6 Rocky River teachers terminated following investigation into inappropriate student photo

(Miguel Schincariol/Getty Images)

By Collin Cunningham

(ROCKY RIVER, Ohio) After Rocky River City Schools (RRCS) discovered one local teacher had taken "inappropriate" pictures of a student on their phone, 19 News reports five teachers resigned and another retired on Wednesday.

Per News 5 Cleveland, all six of the teachers that the district placed on administrative leave in March during its investigation into a video of two local school district teachers discussing an allegedly inappropriate photo of a student are no longer with the school system.

The station reports that the photographs, which the unidentified educator had taken in his classroom, depicted a fully-clothed student in an inappropriate manner, which the district said violated board policy, according to police.

"In lieu of a lengthy employment termination process, the departure of these six staff members provides our school district with the swiftest route, without litigation, to provide 100% certainty that these individuals will not return to a Rocky River City School District classroom,” RRCS Superintendent Michael Shoaf said during a video message announcing the terminations.

The superintendent also announced in a written statement that Elizabeth Anderson, the assistant superintendent, will head up a "healing initiative" to "ensure student safety and reinforce staff training" along with RRCS counselors, the McKeon Education Group and the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio.

In his statement, Shoaf said five staff members resigned in relation to the district's ongoing investigation; the one who retired was the subject of an unrelated investigation. Of those six teachers, Shoaf said five had been involved in a text message thread in which they allegedly discussed other staff members in an unprofessional manner.

The superintendent continued:

After the investigation, it is clear that no students were put at risk by either the private text chain or photograph taken. Part of the healing process for students, staff and the Rocky River residents will be letting go of the anger and panic triggered by the false narrative in the community. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that these teachers are leaving, not because of inappropriate pictures of a student passed around in a text chain, because that did not happen, but due to insensitive private communications and the media firestorm that made staying in Rocky River an untenable position.

"Taking a picture of a student for personal reasons is definitely unacceptable," district parent Mike Loparo, whose daughter currently attends Rocky River High School, told 19 News.

Loparo said that the teacher who captured the initial photo should be fired, but doesn't feel like the other teachers should have been lumped in for participating in a text thread.

Shoaf said the district has shared its findings with local courts and the Rocky River Police Department, which has yet to file any charges against the teachers involved in the case, the station reports. The department reopened its investigation into the matter on March 29 after previously stating it would not file charges.

A department report published at that time stated that the photo did not depict a Rocky River student, but was instead a doctored image of TV mother June Cleaver from 'Leave It to Beaver'.

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