Cori Harris, a 24-year-old former physical education teacher at Coleman Public Schools in Oklahoma, has been sentenced to one year in prison after she pled guilty to having sex with an underaged student.
Harris, who was charged second-degree rape, admitted to having sexual intercourse with an unidentified 16-year-old male student back in 2017.
After she is released from prison, Harris will be on probation for five years.
Brooks is just the latest in a string of education officials to be arrested and charged for sex-related crimes.
The Oklahoma Department of Education has since confirmed that Harris’ teaching certifications have been suspended and will be revoked permanently following a pending revocation hearing.
Harris is just the latest in a string of education officials to be arrested and charged for sex-related crimes.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teacher Meredith Null was arrested on similar charges.
As for why there has been an increase in teacher’s being charged with sex-related crimes over recent years, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.
