A classroom incident involving a now-former substitute teacher at Iotla Valley Elementary School and a student is being investigated by the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
Dr. Chris Baldwin, superintendent of Macon County Schools, confirmed the incident in question allegedly occurred on Dec. 14 and that he found out the next day.
Baldwin said as part of the investigation, the teacher was interviewed Dec. 20 and terminated that same day. The last day of school before Christmas break was Dec. 16. A formal termination letter was sent to the teacher on Jan. 11.
“After consideration of the facts from the in-house investigation, Macon County Schools will no longer be requiring your services as a substitute teacher,” stated the Jan. 11 letter from MCS to the teacher.
Baldwin said that terminating a substitute teacher does not require a school board vote. The substitute teacher had worked with MCS since August 2001.
Regarding the media reports about the incident involving the substitute teacher allegedly taping a child to a desk, Baldwin said he has “no information that a child was actually taped to a desk” and did not provide details on what happened.
The incident was turned over to the Macon County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 6, according to the superintendent. “It’s now in the hands of law enforcement,” Baldwin stated.
When reached on Friday, Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks said the MCSO is “currently investigating and that’s as much as I can tell you.”
The case is being investigated by the MCSO Special Victims unit, according to a statement MCSO sent out Friday. “It is still an ongoing investigation involving minors within our community, and we will not be releasing any more information from our agency at this time,” stated a social media post from the MCSO.
In a press release the school system sent out Friday afternoon, Baldwin stated:
“Macon County Schools’ employees are expected to maintain professional relationships with students at all times, period. We encourage our parents, students, and the community to share any information involving misconduct. We understand parents want to know what has occurred on any given day. I can assure you MCS takes all of these situations seriously but without all the facts it would be irresponsible to put information out prematurely. All parties involved in any allegation deserve nothing less than a thorough investigation and so do our students, parents and staff.”