Girl suspended after telling on teacher

TAMPA -- About two weeks ago, a girl started talking at Middleton High, telling people that a special education teacher for the mentally disabled was sleeping with one of her students.

Middleton principal Carl Green talked with the teacher, Christina Butler, 33, and the 16-year-old boy. Both denied it, said Hillsborough school spokesman Stephen Hegarty. The girl continued to talk, though, saying the teacher should be fired. Administrators suspended the girl, "pending conference," which means until she and a parent or guardian sat down with an administrator to talk.

"He denied it. She denied it. We had nothing more than a rumor on our hands," Hegarty said.

It's now more than a rumor.

Tuesday police arrested Butler. Police say Butler told them she had sex with the student up to a dozen times, including a meeting Monday at her home, a spacious gray bungalow on Tampa Street.

She was released from jail after posting $7,500 bail. Only a big barking dog came to her door Thursday at noon.

Hegarty said he was not aware of the school's handling of the rumor when he spoke with reporters Wednesday. He said he learned details after speaking with the principal, who was out of town.

The girl was not suspended as punishment, he said, and she is now back in school.

After the girl's original complaint, Butler called the teacher's union. School administrators also were "taking steps to get more supervision for Butler's class," Hegarty said.

County Commissioner Kevin White, whose daughter attends Middleton, said he was "bewildered" when he learned that a student was suspended after telling on Butler.

"It was just obviously dismissed as a fabrication," White said.

Dismissing the allegation would be like ignoring a complaint of a gun on campus, he said.

"It makes me so happy that this is my daughter's last year at that school," he said. "I think the bottom line is when we have people in power they need to act responsibly."

-- Abbie VanSickle and Letitia Stein, Times staff writers