Alabama Teacher Guilty of Harassment - Update

(Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

Sex charges against a former Central High School teacher were dropped earlier this month when she pleaded guilty to harassment.

Jennifer Hawk Elebash, 43, was accused of having sexual contact with a student younger than 19, attempting to engage in a sexual act of deviant sexual intercourse with a student younger than 19 and harassment.

She pleaded guilty to the harassment charge on June 6, according to court documents. The other charges were dropped as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Alabama law defines misdemeanor harassment as touching or subjecting another person to physical contact.

Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Chuck Malone sentenced Elebash to serve three months in jail, but granted a year of unsupervised probation. The judge ordered that she surrender her teaching license and not renew it, as terms of her probation.

Elebash resigned her teaching position.

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Alabama Teacher Accused of Sex with Student
[Previous 4/19/12 post]
(Tuscaloosa, Alabama) A 41-year-old teacher formerly at Central High School, Jennifer Hawk Elebash, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old student.

A grand jury recently returned indictments charging her with one count of being a school employee having sexual contact with a student younger than 19, one count of attempted school employee engaging in a sexual act of deviant sexual intercourse with a student younger than 19 and one count of harassment.

Elebash worked as a foreign language teacher at Central until the allegations surfaced in September.

She was placed on leave on Sept. 30, said Tuscaloosa City Schools spokeswoman Lesley Bruinton.

Elebash was booked into custody at the Tuscaloosa County Jail with bond set at $10,000.