Gym Teacher Accused of Sex With Student
0An Illinois high school gym teacher has been arrested and charged with improper sexual conduct with an underage female student, according to a Radio WFIW report posted July 9 at CarmiTimes.com.
The alleged sexual contact resulted in eight felony charges against 29-year-old Haven A. Kirkpatrick, the article said. Each count carries a penalty of three to seven years in prison, should Kirkpatrick be found guilty. The report said that police were tipped off as to the alleged sexual contact between Kirkpatrick, a gym and driving instructor at Fairfield Community High School in Fairfield, Ill.
Earlier this year, similar charges were filed against Lisa Gutilla, a 37-year-old athletic instructor at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. Gutilla allegedly had sexual contact with a 14-year-old student, who spoke of "sexy sessions" with Gutilla. Poly Prep Country Day School was the site of an earlier scandal involving two female language instructors, who were reportedly discovered last November in an empty classroom engaged in sexual activity while an event was taking place elsewhere in the building.
Fantasies about female instructors are part and parcel of the cultural landscape, from teen sex comedies such as Porky's to erotic literature (one novel bears the title Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher).
But in real life, lesbian instructors can find it tough to stay employed even when they remain completely professional in their interactions with students. Last spring, a Canadian music teacher found herself out of a job after her same-sex spouse delivered a child and the news spread to the school where she worked.
The school in question, Little Flower Academy, did not allow for parental leave, but did allow Lisa Reimer to take two weeks of personal time following the birth of Reimer's son. Reimer alleged that when word began to spread of the birth--and the fact that it was Reimer's same-sex spouse who had borne the child--the parents of some of the school's children became uneasy, leading to Reimer being barred from teaching in the classroom--though she was instructed to provide music lessons to her young pupils online.
"I have been instructed that all the classes are cancelled and I'm not to come into the school at all or have any direct contact with the students," said Reimer, "but I am to provide all the classes, through Grade 8 to 12, an online written assignment." Continued Reimer, "You wouldn't give a written assignment in a performing arts class to make up an entire term."
GLBT equality advocate group Pride Education Network claimed in an April 28 press release that the principal of the Little Flower Academy had informed Reimer that parents of some of the students were worried "the girls might follow Ms. Reimer's lead." One member of the group, Steve LeBel, used to be a teacher; he said that the school's pupils were being given the message that, "our principal thinks it's fine to let someone go because they're a lesbian."
Instructors at Catholic schools are often contractually required to abide by church teachings. Instructors who are not Catholic, as is the case with Reimer, are required to treat the church's doctrines with respect. So-called "Catholicity clauses" stem from a 1984 court case, Caldwell vs. St. Thomas Aquinas, in which a teacher was fired from a Catholic high school after she married a divorced man. Catholicity clauses could also be used to uphold anti-gay firings.
The Canadian Supreme Court upheld that legal principle in a 2001 case that challenged Trinity Western University, a religious school, for its mandate that students avoid same-sex intimacy along with other "biblically condemned" behavior.
Vancouver labor lawyer Geoffrey Howard noted that if Reimer wished to pursue the matter, she might have grounds to challenge the "Catholicity" clause in her contract because Little Flower Academy, while a private religious school, receives government funding. "I think that it is time to revisit Caldwell," Howard told the Vancouver Sun. "I think this case is very significant. Just see how many societal issues are raised here. Sexual orientation is just a small part of this. Look at the issue of family rights, of parental rights, of other rights."