Teacher in alleged 'back rub' incident resigns

A Pinellas teacher facing disciplinary action resigned today amid charges that he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Superintendent Clayton Wilcox had recommended that the board fire Thomas J. Anderson, a girls varsity basketball coach at Seminole High School, after a district investigation revealed that Anderson, 59, took a 16-year-old female student to his home during the school day.

Anderson, who also teaches social studies at the school, told district officials he later dropped the girl off a block from her house so that her parents would not find out she had skipped school.

The student told investigators with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office that she gave Anderson a back rub in his bedroom. Anderson has denied the allegation.

Staff attorney Laurie Dart said that Anderson's resignation negates further action by the district, but that the incident will become part of his permanent file.

-- Donna Winchester, Times staff writer