Mindie Elrod, a former teacher at North Caddo High School in Vivian, Louisiana, has been arrested and charged for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a student.
According to reports, Elrod was removed from the school’s campus on Friday, May 3, and charged with prohibited sexual conduct between educator and student.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Caddo Public Schools confirmed that Elrod is no longer employed by the district.
The Caddo Sheriff’s Office is still currently investigating the allegations against Elrod.
KTBS 3 reports that a source says the victim, a senior at North Caddo High School, is 17-years-old. Additionally, the illicit relationship was reportedly uncovered through Snapchat.
Elrod is just one of many education officials to be arrested and charged for inappropriate contact with an underage student in recent years.
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 teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, 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.