Buffalo teacher accused of passing explicit notes

The 56-year-old man was placed on leave. Police say two girls got the notes.

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: November 13, 2009 - 11:05 PM

A longtime teacher at Buffalo Community Middle School is accused of passing sexually explicit notes to two seventh-grade girls he taught, police said Friday.

"There appears to be sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges," Police Chief Mitchell Weinzetl said in a news release. The 56-year-old man has not been arrested.

The teacher, who has been with the district since the early 1980s, has been placed on paid administrative leave, said Moreen Martell, human resources director for the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose School District.

Police and district officials are working together to investigate the allegation, Weinzetl said.

The students who received the notes, ages 12 and 13, turned them over to school officials and indicated that "there was no other suspicious contact or behavior between them and the teacher," the chief said. He added that the students "did not know who gave them the notes at the time they turned them over."

The chief declined to reveal how the notes were passed from the teacher to the girls, but did say in a telephone interview that they "were not passed directly to them and not passed electronically to them."

Weinzetl said police are not aware of "any other previous or similar behavior" connected to this teacher.

A voice-mail telephone message about the investigation was distributed Thursday to the homes of children attending the middle school as well as Northwinds Elementary School, where the teacher also worked. Both are in downtown Buffalo.

"We are taking this matter very seriously and approaching it carefully and respectfully," middle school Principal Julie Swaggert said in the message, which included the teacher's name and his being placed on leave. "As always, our students' welfare and safety is our first priority. This matter will not disrupt the learning that takes place here at our school."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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