Earlier, two miles away at Fairfield High School, a student tipped off school staffers – who quickly enlisted school and city police officers – about a student with two knives in his possession while classes were going on.
Police then arrested a 15-year-old high school student and he was later released to his parents after police charged him with felony weapons possession of having two folding knives while at school.
Thursday at Creekside Middle School city police were interviewing other students and school staffers regarding the allegations against the substitute teacher, who has neither been charged nor publicly identified.
Fairfield police Officer Doug Day told the Journal-News Thursday their investigation involves alleged “inappropriate touching” between the male substitute teacher and a teenage boy.
The alleged incident occurred on the one-year anniversary of a high-profile case on Jan. 8, 2019, where another substitute teacher at Creekside - Tracey J. Abraham – was arrested and charged with public indecency, a first-degree misdemeanor.
After his arrest, he later admitted to “fondling himself” on the outside of his pants while in a Creekside classroom.
The incident involving Abraham, who was a veteran substitute teacher for Fairfield and a number of other Butler and Warren County school systems, raised questions about the standards used by local school districts – and county educational service operations – in qualifying and vetting those who apply to work in schools as substitute instructors.
School substitute teachers in Butler and Warren County are hired through the Warren County Educational Services Center (WCESC) through a cooperative agreement between schools in the two counties. Officials at WCESC said they followed all state and FBI requirements in hiring Abraham.
Fairfield School officials have declined to comment on either the high school student’s arrest for possessing knives or the police investigation into the allegations against the Creekside substitute teacher.
In a statement posted on social media Wednesday about the alleged incident at Creekside – and sent to school parents – they said “it is inappropriate for the district to comment during this active police investigation.”
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