Palmetto High Teacher Arrested Over Alleged Student Relationship
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A Miami Palmetto Senior High teacher is under arrest, accused of having a relationship with an underage student.
A judge on Friday set bond at $75,000 for Jason Meyers, 40, who is facing a charge of sexual battery on a minor.
Meyers' attorney said he had been a school teacher for 15 years, served in the military and had no prior charges.
The judge went on to order Meyers to wear a GPS monitor. He will also not be allowed to have any contact with the 17-year-old girl.
A new police report says Meyers had two sexual encounters with the girl - both in a classroom after school. One of the instances allegedly involved sexual intercourse and the other oral sex.
A close neighborhood friend of Meyers said his wife - also a teacher at the school - is pregnant and they have three children.
In a letter sent to parents, the principal of the school Victoria Dobbs said earlier this week they had received a "disturbing allegation concerning an inappropriate relationship between a male teacher and an underage female student."
That's when they notified Miami-Dade Schools Police who began investigating eventually leading to his arrest.
Miami -Dade County Public Schools issued a statement on the case, saying, "Miami-Dade County Public Schools takes seriously any allegation of employee impropriety and professional misconduct especially when it involves children. The alleged actions by the teacher are unacceptable and reprehensible. The teacher will be terminated. The safety and security of our students will always be of first and foremost concern."
Parents whose kids attend the school had a few words to say about the allegations.
"I think it's disgusting. We as parents and children, we trust the teachers and we trust what's around us, that our kids are going to be safe," parent Robin Riva told CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
"It's concerning. Our kids go to school and we expect them to be safe. And we have a teacher predator," said parent Santiago Martinez.
"It's a teacher so we have to have some respect for the students," said parent Tina Afanador.
Her son, Camilo, a student at the school said, "it's pretty crazy you know how there was a student and he's a teacher...that there's no boundaries. He has to respect a minor."
"I think it was very immoral and a sad situation," said student Ada Yan.
"Sadly he has a wife here and he has children. It's kind of disgusting he did something like that," said another student who did not want to be identified.
The police report says Meyers gave no statement after his arrest.
Miami-Dade Schools Police are asking anyone with information in the case to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
