About three years ago, before ex-Jim Ned CISD teacher-coach Kaleb Tierce's indictment this month on charges of improper relationships with students, school district officials conducted an internal investigation and turned the results over to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office for further investigation.

At the end of that investigation, Jim Ned officials asked the sheriff's office to "hold the case" because they wanted to discuss it with their school board, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Cummins said.

After meeting with their board, district officials discussed the matter with the sheriff's office, and the case wasn't pursued further because female students who alleged Tierce had acted inappropriately -- and their parents -- elected to not move forward, Cummins said.

"The school said they would handle it internally, and that is where it was left," Cummins said.

Exactly what happened remains unclear, but one thing is certain -- Tierce continued to teach in Jim Ned CISD.

Jim Ned officials remain tight-lipped.

Ken Lefevre, the district's superintendent, continues to refuse to answer questions about the situation.

"We have a judicial system in this country that is designed to determine innocence or guilt," Lefevre said in an e-mail. "At this point, I believe it is in the best interest of all parties involved to allow that system to work. This will be my only comment concerning this case."

Given additional chances to respond, Lefevre said, "I provided you with the response from Jim Ned CISD in my previous e-mail. There will be no other official response from Jim Ned CISD."

Also remaining mum about the high-profile case are Tierce's attorney David Thedford and District Attorney James Eidson.

"Ethical obligations don't allow me to comment or make assertions about facts to be proven in the case," Eidson said.

"Sorry, no comment," Thedford said.

In the indictments, the 26-year-old Tierce is charged with three counts of attempted improper relationships with students after he allegedly sought sexual favors from three female students in the latter part of 2005.

The alleged relationships began on school grounds, but the incidents are thought to have occurred off campus, Cummins said.

An improper relationship between an educator and a student is defined in Texas law as sexual contact or communication that is sexual in nature. It is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Book controversy restarts case

Tierce taught pre-advanced placement English and was an assistant football coach at Jim Ned High School in Tuscola until he was placed on paid administrative leave in October 2007 after parents of a ninth-grader filed a complaint with the sheriff's office.

The parents complained about their then 14-year-old daughter being able to read Cormac McCarthy's "Child of God" while in Tierce's class. The book has graphic depictions of sex and violence.

During the book investigation, allegations concerning inappropriate relationships between Tierce and students were made, Cummins said.

"In the investigation about the book, the officers made contact with them," Cummins said, referring to the three students who were listed in the Tierce indictment. "They talked to them."

Cummins said he didn't know whether investigators approached the students or if the students approached the investigators.

Ultimately, Tierce wasn't charged with providing harmful material to a minor -- a misdemeanor.

In March, Jim Ned school district trustees voted not to renew Tierce's teaching contract for the 2008-09 school year.

Tierce's Texas educator certificate on the State Board for Educator Certification's Web site says he is under review by the SBEC Professional Discipline Unit. The review is standard when an educator is being investigated by law enforcement for alleged criminal conduct and could result in the state board revoking the teacher's certification.

Melva Cárdenas, of the State Board of Educator Certification, said she forwarded an inquiry regarding Tierce's certification status to the SBEC Investigations Division.

Tierce is now self-employed, Cummins has said, and makes money by doing odd jobs.

Improper student-teacher relationship cases rare locally

Cases such as Tierce's aren't reported frequently in Abilene or the surrounding areas.

Since the Texas Legislature in September 2003 enacted the charge for improper relationship between educator and student, Assistant Abilene Police Chief Ken Merchant said, "We have not had a single incident I can find in our computer records."

In Taylor County, outside Abilene city limits, the only case other than Tierce's in the past five years was one in Merkel, Cummins said.

While four Merkel coaches were accused of having improper relationships with students, no criminal charges were brought against them. Two of the coaches ultimately surrendered their teacher licenses, while the other two received reprimands for their conduct.

"We've had them on occasion. I know some have been justified, and some have been unfounded," Cummins said.

Last year, allegations were made -- in an anonymous letter -- about a female Wylie High School teacher having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

"We couldn't determine any wrongdoing, so we immediately turned it over" to Child Protective Services, Wylie ISD Superintendent Joey Light said.

Ultimately, Light said, "There was no wrongdoing determined."

The former Wylie High teacher resigned in February and has an invalid teaching certificate, which likely means she didn't attempt to renew it after it expired, according to Texas Education Agency records.

"We don't generally put too much value in anonymous letters, but that subject matter we could not ignore," Light said.

In the Abilene Independent School District, Royce Curtis -- the district's assistant superintendent for personnel -- said he's only aware of a couple of cases in the past five or six years where such allegations were made.

"There wasn't enough there for there to be any (criminal) prosecution," Curtis said. "They left, and we reported" the teachers to the state.

Districts are required by law to report instances of alleged improper teacher-student relationships to the state.

Statewide over the past two years, there have been 193 cases opened by the Texas Education Agency regarding alleged improper relationships between students or minors and teachers. Of those, records show, 92 resulted in formal sanctions being applied against an educator's certificate, said Doug Phillips, of the TEA.

"The remaining cases either were closed without sanction or are currently pending," Phillips said.

No figures were available by region, county or school district.

"We do not track them separately," Phillips said.

Responsibility taken seriously

Light and Curtis said their districts take seriously the responsibility of ensuring that student-teacher relationships remain proper.

"That's one of those areas that school districts can't tolerate," Light said, adding Wylie ISD would immediately "confront it."

"Anytime we hear of anything, we would immediately try to do an investigation to verify," Light said. "If we even suspect it, we would immediately notify law enforcement. Our thought is that is not an area where we would mess around with."

If accusations are made, Curtis said, the district -- including the building principal -- immediately investigates.

If it is determined the allegations warrant further investigation, Curtis said, those accused of wrongdoing would be "put on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is complete." Police would also be contacted, he said.

"The police get involved when a complaint is filed," Curtis said. "If a complaint is never filed that doesn't stop the school from investigating or taking action if evidence is creditable. If a complaint is filed, the school will work with the police and in most cases let them do the initial investigation. If the complaining party never files with the police, the school will inform the police if creditable evidence if found."

No state guidelines or laws exist dictating how school districts should conduct investigations, Phillips said, or "who they should report it to."

"There are, however, state laws that require the report of child abuse by schools, so in some instances that would dictate a need to report to the police as well as CPS (Child Protective Services)," Phillips said.

Merchant, the Abilene police assistant chief, said he has never "personally known any of our local school districts to not report any type of neglect or abuse to the proper agency."

"They have continually worked well with us on any type of investigation that might involve AISD staff, even though that is an infrequent occurrence," Merchant said.

Merchant said districts are free to "take whatever action they deem proper against the offender, outside of the criminal investigation, just as any entity can.

"After all, the burden of proof is far less outside of the courtroom. There may also be multiple investigations conducted at the same time, as some will result in administrative action, while others result in criminal action."

School districts by law must report to the State Board for of Education Certification when someone resigns or is let go due to inappropriate behavior with student, "even if legal charges or compliant was never filed."

"The state will then open up an investigation," Curtis said, "and that investigation could lead to the accused teacher losing their teacher certification." All investigative materials are handed over for the state's investigation.

"Once the investigation is complete, and if there is merit to it, we would ask the teacher to resign," Curtis said.

Superintendents in districts that fail to report are subject to sanctions ranging from reprimand to potential revocation of certificate.

"That's not ever happened," Phillips said of revocation.

Even so, Curtis and Light said the state requirement that such offenders be reported to the state is needed and welcomed.