Texas Teacher Gets Probation in Sex Case - Updated

(Fort Worth, Texas) This week, 30-year-old Emily Elizabeth Housley pleaded guilty to engaging in an improper relationship between an educator and student, a second-degree felony.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, a sexual assault charge was dropped.

For the conviction, Judge Elizabeth Berry of Criminal District Court No. 3 sentenced Housley to seven years of probation and prohibited her from ever teaching again.

The teaching prohibition does not include participating in activities at her own children's schools, he said.

Before she was sentenced, Housley completed a sex offender evaluation, a standard condition in such cases, Nickols said. She was not ordered to attend sex offender counseling, he said.

Nickols said the student's family did not attend Housley's sentencing but was consulted about the plea agreement.

Given that the sexual relations between Housley and the boy occurred at several locations, including the school, and endured for an extended period of time, I contend that some time behind bars is warranted. The court obviously disagrees.

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Texas Teacher Arrested for Sex with Boy
[Previous 7/11/09 post]
(Fort Worth, Texas) On June 30, a math teacher at North High School, Emily Elizabeth Housley, was caught by Fort Worth police with a 16-year-old boy in a public park after curfew. She was cited for the curfew violation and, subsequently, the Fort Worth school system launched an investigation of the incident. Housley then resigned.

This week, the 16-year-old boy's mother alerted police to the fact that her son had admitted to engaging in sex with Housley, a married mother-of-two. Last night, Housley was arrested for alleged sexual assault of a child and booked into custody.

According to Detective T.L. Howard, Housley had been flirting with the boy since early this year, before he turned 16.

By April, after the boy had turned 16, the relationship evolved into sexual encounters — the first occurring inside Housley’s classroom after school hours, Howard said.

The sexual encounters continued — at the school, in Housley’s car, at her mother’s home, and at Housley’s Saginaw home when her husband and children were away, Howard said. After school let out for the summer, he said, Housley met the teen at his Fort Worth house while he was alone.

"She was going to a teacher conference that was near his house, and she was going over there on her lunch breaks and having sex with him," Howard said.

If true, it appears that the sexual relations were rabbit-like and not the result of a temporary lapse in judgment.

By the way, congratulations are in order since today (7/11) is reportedly Housley's birthday. She is 29.