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Laura Amero, 35, a school superintendent in Ohio, was charged on Monday, April 22nd with having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student and attempting to have a sexual relationship with another student, threatening them if they spoke out, at Windham Junior-Senior High School.
Amero pleaded guilty to two fourth-degree felony counts of attempted sexual battery and two third-degree felony counts of sexual battery.
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The alleged incidents happened between September 2015 and May 2016 with a now 19-year-old and between February and May 2017 with a now 18-year-old student.
The former teacher was also charged with two first-degree misdemeanor counts of intimidation of a crime victim or witness which occurred on March 28.
After the Windham Board of Education was notified of alleged misconduct, Amero was put on administrative leave on April 1.
According to the Record-Courier, the Board of Education President Darryl McGuire believes the law enforcement brought the matter to the school district’s attention.
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“The Windham Exempted Village Schools will continue to cooperate as requested by law enforcement,” the district said in a statement.
During a 14-minute meeting on Wednesday, April 24, the board decided to suspend Amero in a unanimous vote and will not be paid while the case is pending.
“We can bring in counselors but right now we haven’t seen that problem. The acting superintendent [Gregg Isler] is on top of that with the principals and are working on that issue, but our main focus is concentrating on education,” said McGuire after the meeting.
In 2012, the educator was praised for her engaged students, class management and organization in a peer evaluation.
Amero was released on a $350,000 bond. A pretrial hearing is scheduled in Portage Country Common Pleas Court on May 31.
