A Webberville High School staff member was placed on administrative leave on Friday, after accusations of having inappropriate communication with an under aged student. The Ingham County Sheriff's office and school administrators are investigating. And the Ingham County Sheriff's office did confirm the investigation, and that they are taking the accusations seriously.
On Monday the superintendent told us the staff member is Katie Moore.
Moore was a paraprofessional at the high school. A paraprofessional is an educational worker who is not licensed to teach, but is there to give students who have certain educational needs extra help.
FOX 47's Alani Letang caught up students and parents at the school, to get their opinion on the matter.
And they said, if the accusations are true, they are devastated, disappointed and disgusted.
Several students also said it's giving their school a bad image.
One parent said, "And what is she even doing preying on teenagers, its disgusting."
And as disgusting as that parent said it is, she also said this incident is unusual for Webberville, "it's just weird though because, this sort of thing doesn't happen here."
Several students and parents tell us that the staff member is accused of not only sending inappropriate text messages, but is also an inappropriate relationship with several students. And parents say since Webberbville is small, it's the talk of the town.
"My daughter and the group that she hangs out with, everybody knows about it" said a parent.
In light of what's the allegations are, a parent said she is teaching her own child about the appropriate communication, to have with an authority figure. That parent said, about her daughter, "she would tell me if anything happened, just like how she told me about the incident with this person happened."
The parent told us that incidents like this might not happen and can be avoided, if the hiring process was more in depth. A Webberville parent said, "I think the background checks should be more extensive, not just a local or in state one, but they should really check nationally."
When we asked a parent what the staff member's punishment should be if the investigation proves the allegations are true, she said, "she should never be able to work with children....ever ever again."
