TXAGBQ76 said:
I graduated from HS in 1972. There was a quiet, shy, tall blonde with blue eyes. There was a young, Hispanic history teacher and head baseball coach. The two had a thing for each other also talking quietly to each other, passing notes, etc. everyone swore there was no sex involved, but who knows. Within three weeks or so after she graduated they were married.
The year after I graduated HS, I met a young teacher at another HS from mine around mid-fall semester. This was maybe 4-5 months after I graduated. She was a first year teacher there, although I don't recall her age or even if I knew it. Let's just say same age as here, although I was 18. We dated for a short time -- a couple of months or so. It didn't work out due to distance as I was still at Baylor and she was in the north Texas area. From what I heard, not terribly long after we broke up, she started dating some guy and by the end of the school year was engaged! She got married soon after, left the area, and I never saw or heard from her again.
I've often wondered: what if the relationship had started a few months prior when I hadn't yet graduated? Just assume for a second she was student teaching either in my district or even the one she worked in (the statute includes employees from other districts in certain situations). Would it have really made any difference from a relationship standpoint? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I was never going to marry her, at least not at that time, but we not only got along very well, like all good dating relationships, we enjoyed being together. Again, we only broke up because either I or she wasn't available on many weekends and seeing each other during the week was impossible. Under this alternative scenario, had we been found out about and the law been the same as it is now, she might have been subject to criminal penalties. That's not just absurd it is repugnant.
This doesn't even get into whether the situations involve male or female students. Like it or not, there IS a difference; a BIG difference. Also, if someone is convicted of one of the statutes, they aren't subject to sex registry reporting.
ALL laws regarding this and sex registry need to be looked and and potentially revised. One size fitting all is a terrible policy in these situations.