Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The teacher hasn’t been charged with a crime.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND — A Poland Seminary High School teacher resigned amid an investigation into his alleged relationship with a student.
Troy Massey, 41, of Boardman, was a 19-year teacher who taught physics and was the cross country and track coach. While his resignation is effective to when his contract expires Aug. 29, 2008, “all active services and duties” ended Monday, the resignation said.
School officials began investigating Massey in September.
The probe centered on a 2007 graduate and a complaint initiated by her parent, according to the reporting forms submitted to the Ohio Department of Education. Superintendent Dr. Robert Zorn declined to characterize the nature of the alleged relationship.
On Nov. 21, Poland village police found Massey running between parked cars at Fireman’s Field. The call came in at 12:47 a.m. The former student, now 18, was with him, the police report says.
Massey’s resignation cited personal reasons for his decision.
But a report submitted Tuesday by the district to the ODE’s Office of Professional Conduct said Massey “resigned because of or in the course of an investigation regarding an act unbecoming the profession ...”
The report says the school district had been investigating allegations from a parent of a 2007 graduate concerning Massey and that student. The ODE will now investigate.
“Mr. Massey has denied any wrongdoing,” the district told the ODE.
The district offered no further comment on the Monday resignation besides its unanimous acceptance.
There is no listing in the phone book for Massey, and his attorney, Ira J. Mirkin, couldn’t be reached.
Township Police Chief Brian Goodin said Tuesday that no criminal report had been filed regarding Massey. “We need a complainant to investigate,” the chief said.
The Nov. 21 police report said that when an officer arrived at Fireman’s Field, she saw a man, later identified as Massey, run in front of both vehicles and hide behind one of them. When the officer told him to come from behind the car, he complied.
According to the police report, Massey told the officer that the car lights startled him, causing him to duck down.
The 18-year-old woman was with Massey, dropping him off at his vehicle, the report says.
Police detected the odor of alcohol coming from Massey, and he said he had consumed beer earlier in the evening, according to the report.
A portable breath test indicated Massey’s blood alcohol level at 0.159 percent.
“As Massey was too impaired to drive,” the woman “gave him a ride home,” the report says.
Police told both that the park closes at dark.
Under the terms of Massey’s resignation, Zorn said the former teacher will remain on sick leave through the end of this school year.
“He is under treatment by a physician,” the superintendent said.
Zorn wouldn’t talk about what kind of treatment Massey is undergoing, citing the confidentiality of medical information.
Massey’s salary this year is $64,891. The school district will rely on a substitute to teach Massey’s classes through the end of the school year.
The girl, now 18, was 17 and a student at the time the alleged relationship is believed to have begun, school officials said.
Under a law effective last March, the ODE requires school districts and other education entities to report matters of professional misconduct to the state under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances is the employee has resigned during the course of an investigation of alleged educator misconduct.
Karla Carruthers, an ODE spokeswoman, said that when a school district files an educator misconduct reporting form, the state education department conducts its own investigation to determine if discipline is warranted.
The most severe discipline that could come out of an ODE investigation is permanent revocation of an educator’s license.
Massey still has his teaching license.