Reports of teacher-student sex on the rise in Texas, and social media may be why

From left to right: Kearney Day, Allen ISD; Alexander Simon, Dallas ISD; Aaron Reza, Plano ISD, Sandy Washington, Duncanville ISD; Alina Leung from Young Men's Leadership Academy in Fort Worth; Kelly Williams Jr., Mansfield ISD; James Romig Smith, Rockwall ISD; and Farley Ashford Simon, Irving ISD.

Reports of inappropriate relationships between Texas educators and students are on track to shatter last year’s record total of 188 cases.
Since Sept. 1, the Texas Education Agency has launched 162 investigations of reported inappropriate teacher-student relationships, according to the Amarillo Globe-News.
Several such cases have made headlines this year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, among them a special ed teacher who made child porn at a Mansfield school, a Duncanville teacher who is serving a 10-year sentence for having sex with a student with Asperger’s syndrome, and a Plano PE teacher accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a student.
Houston middle school teacher Alexandria Vera also made news recently after she admitted to having an abortion following a months-long sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student.
This year will be at least the sixth in a row that the number of reports in Texas has grown, and social media may be playing a part in the increase.
“In the past, you might not have had students choosing to interact socially with a teacher. Now they’ll friend them on Facebook or they’ll reach out to them on Snapchat,” Kathy Tortoreo, director of crisis services at Family Support Services in Amarillo, told the Globe-News.
“The adult is supposed to understand the boundary, and the adult is supposed to uphold the boundary,” Tortoreo said.
Texas lawmakers also blamed social media at the Texas House Public Education Committee last month.
Christina Green, director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas, testified before the House panel and urged schools to implement policies that will set boundaries for faculty’s social media use.
“Our goal, outside of preventing these inappropriate relationships from ever developing, should be to identify and quash these cases at the point of grooming before any abuse happens,” she said.