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Georgia district EXTENDS a middle school teacher's contract four days after he was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography
Daily Mail
Thu April 25, 2019
Area: Chattanooga
A Georgia middle school teacher reportedly had his contracted extended after he was charged with possessing child pornography.
Four days after Dr James Barret was arrested on April 5, the Walker County School Board voted to extend the Saddle Ridge Middle School teacher's contract.
Barret was arrested following a five-month criminal investigation that started in November 2018 when a student described obscene videos on Barret's iPad.
The student had reportedly used Barret's device to finish an assignment and saw 'porn' in the teacher's search history, according to WRCB-TV.
That incident led officers to issue a search warrant on Barret's iPad, several cell phones and two computers.
Authorities did not release details of what was found, if anything, on those devices.
But a second search warrant issued in January allowed for officers to search Barrett's home and his internet browsing history, which allegedly showed searches for 'naked pubescent boys'.
During the investigation Barret was allowed to keep his position, but he was taken out of the classroom on November 29, 2018.
And despite his arrest, his contract with the Walker County School system has been extended.
Superintendent Damon Raines explained to WRCB that 'contracts come out every year in April for the entire district, so that's just typical of what happens every year, and so a tenured teacher gets a contract'.
'Unless there's something... they decide to resign, they're going to another district, something in life has changed and they're moving away, they still get that contract,' Raines added.
Barrett currently works outside the classroom at the Advanced Education Center, writing curriculum for third and eighth-grade social studies.
Raines told the station that he chose not to place Barrett on paid leave pending the investigation, because if he was going to pay Barret he wanted him to be productive.
'We'll wait to see what the criminal investigation shows and that will allow us to make decisions for the school system,' Raines added.
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