BV teacher resigns, under investigation

DUSTIN ENSINGER

Staff Writer

A Buck­eye Val­ley teacher who recently was placed on admin­is­tra­tive leave and is under inves­ti­ga­tion by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) resigned Monday.

Matt Miller, a for­mer vocal music teacher at the high school and the mid­dle school, is under inves­ti­ga­tion for allegedly “engag­ing in sex­ual mis­con­duct of a poten­tially crim­i­nal nature” involv­ing “one or more stu­dents” at the high school, accord­ing to a press release from the district.

Miller has not been charged with a crime.

He could not be reached by phone Tues­day. His cell phone went straight to voice-mail, and his mail­box was full.

Accord­ing to the school dis­trict, admin­is­tra­tors were informed of the alleged mis­con­duct on March 12. The alle­ga­tions were imme­di­ately reported to the DCSO, which dis­patched detec­tives to the high school to ques­tion Miller.

The dis­trict press release said Miller vol­un­tar­ily sub­mit­ted to ques­tion­ing at the sheriff’s office, and “it is the under­stand­ing of the dis­trict” he admit­ted he “engaged in cer­tain con­duct with dis­trict stu­dents that was improper and which may now result in crim­i­nal charges against him.”

On Mon­day, Miller sub­mit­ted his uncon­di­tional res­ig­na­tion. The board unan­i­mously accepted the res­ig­na­tion at its Tues­day meeting.

The dis­trict will report infor­ma­tion about the alle­ga­tions to the Office of Pro­fes­sional Con­duct at the Ohio Depart­ment of Education.

“The dis­trict regrets any dis­tress to par­ents which reports of this inci­dent may have caused,” the dis­trict press release said. “The Buck­eye Val­ley Local School Dis­trict is deeply com­mit­ted to the pre­ven­tion of sex­ual abuse and harass­ment in its schools, and vig­or­ously enforces its poli­cies against sex­ual harass­ment and mis­con­duct of all kinds.”

The dis­trict has no plans to address the mat­ter further.

“This mat­ter is now the sub­ject of a pend­ing crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion,” the press release said. “In keep­ing with its gen­eral prac­tice, and out of respect for the pri­vacy of both the adults and stu­dents involved, the dis­trict will not com­ment pub­licly on this pend­ing inves­ti­ga­tion. The dis­trict will also adhere strictly to the state and fed­eral laws pro­tect­ing stu­dent records and stu­dent infor­ma­tion from pub­lic disclosure.”

Posted by Dustin Ensinger on Mar 20 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.