A former teacher and coach of Buford High School located in Gwinnett County, Brad Elliott, was arrested on charges of sexual battery and sexual assault against two female students last Wednesday.
According to Gwinnett County police reports, Elliott is accused of inappropriately touching a student without permission as well as having a consensual sexual relationship with a second student.
Though the student engaged in the relationship with Elliott was over 16, which is the legal age of consent, under Georgia law, sexual contact between anyone with supervisory or disciplinary authority and a person under his or her care is illegal, even if consensual. The reports state both incidents occurred on Buford High School property.
Unfortunately, inappropriate relationships being reported between teachers and students have become more common across Gwinnett County in recent years.
Last month, Therese Gunn, a music teacher formerly employed at South Gwinnett High School pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a sexual relationship she had with a 17-year-old student. Gunn taught for 25 years before her arrest in May 2016 and was sentenced to serve 90 days in prison with 10 years probation last month.
A second South Gwinnett teacher, Villie Jones was recently indicted on 20 charges of sexual assault and one charge of child molestation. Reports were made from students at South Gwinnett as well as a previous school in North Carolina that he taught at. According to Assistant District Attorney Matt Acuff, Jones has admitted the sexual relationships on video. If convicted of all charges, Jones would face a maximum sentence of 520 years in prison.
Last May, three Gwinnett County School teachers were all arrested within days of each other.
Derren Evans was arrested on May 17 after a student told a school counselor that Evans repeatedly groped her, forcibly kissed her, and asked for nude photos over Snapchat. Evans was a former long-term substitute teacher at Providence Christian Academy as well as a football coach.
The next day Meadowcreek High School track coach Ronnie Jackson was arrested and charged with sexual assault after a student accused him of inappropriate acts while helping her stretch a groin muscle. The third teacher arrest was made on May 19. Parkview High School teacher Michael Henderson was arrested after friends of the victim reported to the school administrator that a relationship had been occurring for nearly two years between the student and Henderson. Henderson was also sentenced to 20 years, with five to be served in prison and the remainder on probation after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual assault.
With so many reports it is easy to question whether anything could have been done to prevent these situations.
According to Bernard Watson, a district spokesman for Gwinnett County Schools and Buford City Commissioner and Buford City School Board Member Phillip Beard, both state that all teachers are required to pass a stringent background process before being considered for employment in their school districts.
Both districts require fingerprinting, background checks with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI as well as a professional teaching record check from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which keeps records of any previous formal ethics complaints filed against educators.
Elliott, who became employed with Buford Schools in August, had a great performance record according to Beard and had previously worked alongside Buford head football coach John Ford at Roswell High School. No former complaints were ever issued against Elliott, and he met all employment requirements.
The same applied to the multiple Gwinnett County incidents in the past few years. No prior reports were found. “No matter how many background checks you do, no matter how many times you train teachers, I don’t know of a way to stop somebody who has an intention of doing wrong or making poor decisions,” said Watson.
