Teacher suspended after allegedly letting student touch her inappropriately

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned a teacher suspended by Cobb County schools could be facing further discipline from the state.
 
The teacher, who is also a coach at Allatoona High School, was suspended for one day for letting a student touch her inappropriately.
 
Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri initially got a tip about this story in late March, but the district would not comment. We waited until it closed its investigation, and Viteri filed an open records request for the information.
 
According to a complaint, the coach allowed a female student to touch her chest on at least two occasions and let the student sleep on her on a bus trip from a game.
 
"She was nervous about going on to a competition and was like, 'Oh, good luck,' and then just rubbed them for good luck," the coach said in an audio recording from interviews the coach had with the district.
 
She explained the contact was made jokingly, not inappropriately.  
 
"Like a baseball player walks up and hits his coach on the butt or a football player," the coach described the touching.
 
In another interview a staff member described seeing the coach and student sleeping together on the bus. 
 
"Lay to where their stomachs were touching. They were face-to-face, lying on top of each other, and then just crawl up and go to sleep," the teacher said in the audio recording.
 
"Going that far, that's too much," student Eric Thacker told Viteri.  
 
The district suspended the coach for one day without pay.
 
Attorney Quinton Washington is a former teacher who now represents teachers through the Georgia Association of Educators.  
 
He believes the state Professional Standards Commission will take further action in a case like this.
 
"The standard is the year suspension. I've seen them give less, but it's been in very rare occasions," Washington said.  
 
Parent Angie Thacker and her son were surprised at the initial one-day suspension.
 
"That's like an, it's OK slap on the wrist, that's OK. It's not OK," Thacker said.
 
Viteri spoke with the chief investigator with the Professional Standards Commission, who said they are set to review this case next Thursday, at which time they could open their own investigation with the possibility of more disciplinary action against the teacher.

WSBTV