43
Two Warren teachers removed from classroom amid allegations
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Warren schools were hit with two situations involving teachers at Warren G. Harding High School in the past couple of weeks, one involving possible sexual misconduct involving a student and one centered on a felony drug charge.
Warren Board of Education on Tuesday accepted the resignation of former remedial-reading teacher Amanda Basile after she admitted to Warren police that she engaged in a sex act with a male student.
Basile, 31, of Austintown and Mineral Ridge, admitted to a Warren police detective April 23 that she met with the 18-year-old student outside of the regular school day and engaged in a sex act with him, according to a document in her file with Warren schools.
She was placed on unpaid leave that day and resigned the next day.
Warren police referred the matter to Austintown Police Department because the sex act purportedly occurred in Austintown, police said.
Steve Chiaro, Warren superintendent, issued a statement last Friday, saying the district was investigating “a serious allegation of misconduct by one of our staff members ... that is no longer an employee of the district.”
The Warren City School District is committed to the safety, security and well-being of our students,” the statement said.
Basile was hired July 12, 2012, and began teaching that August, according to school files.
The other teacher, Tracy A. Gogel, 46, of Cuyahoga Falls has been placed on paid home assignment by the school district, meaning she is performing specific assignments but is not around children, after she was charged April 1 in Cuyahoga Falls with felony drug possession.
Her case was recently bound over to a Summit County grand jury. If convicted, she could get up to eight years in prison.
Gogel started working for the school district as a home-economics teacher at Harding in August 2009 and has remained in that position during her time with the district.
Chiaro said Gogel will remain on her current status until the school district completes its investigation into the incident. That will be influenced by what happens in Gogel’s criminal case, Chiaro said.
An attempt to obtain a police report from the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department regarding her arrest was unsuccessful.