Teacher Walks

(Brownsville, Texas) About a year ago, 25-year-old teacher at Pace High School, Samantha Drash, was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student. Drash resigned her position and was later arrested on sexual misconduct charges.

In March 2006, Drash pleaded not guilty to charges of having an inappropriate relationship between educator and student and sexual assault of a child. She claimed the accusations were an act of revenge by her estranged husband. That same month, divorce papers filed by Drash's estranged husband made reference to the sex with the student as an act of adultery on the teacher's part.

Since that time, the prosecution has been building its case with intentions of having the victim testify. However, the boy's parents came forward and stated that they didn't want Drash prosecuted because it wasn't all her fault. They put half the blame for the sexual relationship on the boy, now 17. Both the boy and his parents submitted affidavits indicating that they didn't want to pursue the case.

Consequently, Judge Rolando Olvera with the 138th State District Court dismissed the second-degree felony charge yesterday against Samantha Drash. The judge ordered Drash to stay away from her victim and committed to have the DA's office assure she does. Her license to teach is being reviewed by the State Board for Educator Certification.

The dismissal allows Drash to avoid trial and a possible prison term. According to her lawyer, Ernesto Gamez, Drash now plans on attending graduate school to become an engineer.

In conclusion, it must be noted that throughout this entire episode, discussions and statements consistently addressed whether to prosecute and how to prosecute rather than questioning whether a sex crime was actually committed by an educator on a student. From the beginning, it has seemed to be a given that Drash did have sex with the boy. Just an observation, but it appears that the commission of a crime and Drash's guilt were never issues.