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According to KENS 5, Emily Marie Anderson was arrested and faces charges of sexually assaulting a student while employed as a teacher at Canyon High School. The school is located at 1510 I-35, New Braunfels, TX 78130.
On August 17, 2021, the New Braunfels Police Department arrested 34-year-old Anderson following accusations that she had a sexual relationship with a student that was only 15 years old. Anderson was a teacher at Canyon High School, and the minor victim was a student.
Police are curious if there may be other victims, and the investigation remains ongoing. Anderson has been placed in Comal County Jail with bail set at $50,000.
Anjali Nigam, our attorney contributor, is an experienced sexual abuse lawyer that has represented numerous victims in civil lawsuits. Michael has provided us with commentary on the rights of victims sexually abused by a teacher.
“Schools and their administration are legally obligated to protect the students and staff. School employees, such as teachers, have positions of power that gain the students' trust. Unfortunately, sexual predators gain employment in schools allowing them to exploit their power and abuse students. School boards must do their best to prevent hiring predators at their schools. It is important that they implement adequate safety measures to ensure their student body's safety. Some examples of such safety measures could include misconduct reporting systems, security cameras throughout the property and by conducting proper background checks on all employees."
“Victims have a legal right to ask if the school did everything with their power to prevent the abuse. If a school has not implemented proper security measures, it could even be considered liable for any sexual misconduct by its employees, such as teachers and coaches. In these cases, a school could be deemed negligent for any sexual abuse that takes place by its staff. An example of neglect would include a student reporting a teacher, yet the staff ignored the complaints rather than relay them to social services or law enforcement. Another example could be if the school's staff was aware of the abuse but did not report it to school officials. Victims of such neglect should secure an experienced sexual abuse lawyer’s services to determine their legal options better. In most cases of negligence, the victim and their family could have grounds for a civil lawsuit against the school and could even recover compensation for damages.”
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