Process begins to fire teacher

FORT RECOVERY - Board of education members took steps Tuesday night to fire a high school teacher indicted on three counts of sexual battery involving a former student.

Superintendent Shelly Vaughn recommended the termination of Christopher Alan Summers, 32, 671 Woodland Ave., St. Henry, for sexual conduct involving a student and for insubordination.

"The board of education has received evidence from the superintendent, which specifically supports and documents the reasons for that termination," a resolution reads.

The acts of sexual conduct with the former student and insubordination constitute good and just cause for termination, the resolution says.

Board members Amy Bihn, Jose Faller, Ginny Fortkamp, Aaron Guggenbiller and Dave Hull spent about an hour in a closed-door executive session before resuming the regular meeting and unanimously voting to initiate the process of firing Summers, an accounting teacher.

Effective today, Summers is suspended without pay and benefits pending the termination process. He had been on paid administrative leave since his arrest Nov. 6.

Summers, who remains in the Mercer County jail, will be sent notification of the board's action by mail. He has 10 days to request a hearing with board members or a referee appointed by the Ohio Department of Education, treasurer Lori Koch said.

Board members plan to officially terminate Summers after that 10-day period, she said.

Neither board members nor administrators at Tuesday's meeting commented on the decision to start the firing process or about Summers, pointing out all pertinent information was contained in the resolution.

Summers appeared in Mercer County Common Pleas Court on Monday, where bond was set at $500,000.

The three sexual battery charges - all third-degree felonies- allege sexual conduct with the same victim in January, February and May of this year. The events reportedly occurred at Summers' home, a hotel in Greenville and an undesignated Dull Road location, according to court paperwork.

Summers, also a former girls junior varsity basketball and track coach, allegedly became acquainted with the victim in 2010 when she was 16. The victim's mother reportedly alerted authorities.

If convicted, Summers faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count.