DEFIANCE, Ohio — Police are investigating a former Defiance teacher for an alleged "inappropriate relationship" with a student, district Superintendent Robert Morton said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
Morton says Defiance City Schools were made aware of the allegations against Andrew Coressel and "took swift action to investigate these allegations and confront [him]."
Coressel, who taught math at Defiance High School, resigned the same day he was confronted, the statement says.
Morton's statement does not say when the district was notified of the allegations and when district administrators confronted Coressel.
The Defiance Police Department is now investigating the allegations. No criminal charges have been fired against Coressel. According to a press release from Defiance PD released Wednesday, the report of the allegation was made to police on May 17.
Morton's full statement is below:
"We would like to take a moment as a District to address some allegations that you may be hearing in the community. We were made aware of allegations concerning a teacher employed by the District having an inappropriate relationship with a District student. District administrators took swift action to investigate these allegations and confront the staff member. The staff member resigned effective the same day. While we will not be making any further statements about this incident because it has been referred to the Defiance Police Department, we wanted to take the opportunity to address this so that the community can rest assured that we do not tolerate behavior of this kind. The safety of the students of this community is our number one priority."
Coressel provided WTOL 11 with an exclusive statement Tuesday night:
“First of all, I want to say that nothing I am about to write is to excuse any behavior I have done, but to be as honest as I know how to be about the reasons for my resignation from Defiance City Schools. Although I never had, asked for, or even implied any sort of sexual relations, physically or verbally, I did have correspondences with a student that were unethical and inappropriate between a teacher and a student. My quick resignation was in hopes that I would not inconvenience the school district any more than necessary, and that I could attend to the needs of my family immediately. I have been completely compliant with the authorities on all information asked of me and will continue to cooperate with them. I am deeply sorry for all of the hurt and disappointment my actions have caused to the staff and students of Defiance City Schools, and to the community of Defiance that I have always loved so much. It has been a great honor to teach in such a wonderful school district as Defiance, and it brings me great sorrow that I have brought this reproach on the place that has been the source of much joy for my family and I for most of our entire lives.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include new information made available in a Defiance police press release.
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