Katy teacher accused of having sex with student

Monday, March 05, 2007

Mark Garay
More: Bio, News Team

By Mark Garay

(3/04/07 - KTRK/KATY, TX) (KTRK) -- A junior high teacher is accused of having sex with a student. The woman is a teacher at McDonald junior high in Katy. Deputies say they caught her inside her car with a student early Saturday morning.

By all accounts, Emily Willis was a popular teacher. Her arrest came after an incident along Greenhouse Road around 2am Saturday.

Diane and Andy Frederick couldn't believe when they heard a teacher at McDonald junior high, the same school they send their son to every day, was arrested for sexually assaulting a student.

"The school's been no problem," said Andy Frederick. "And they all of the sudden, we hear about this from a news reporter and not from the school."

Diane Frederick is holding her sixth-grader closer today.

"I feel like we're paying some of the highest taxes around," she said. "Then this happens."

Harris County says it got a call of a suspicious vehicle parked along Greenhouse Road. A deputy reportedly knocked on the window and found Willis with a boy engaged in sexual activity.

Willis' address came back to a home in far northwest Ft. Bend County. We did see people walking around inside, but nobody answered the door. But neighbors close to the school had plenty to say. Many have placards showing their support for the school.

"Well, I mean, it's not good in any case," said parent Ken Fitzhenry. "I don't care what school it is."

"This is very disturbing," added parents Khadijah Hall. "This is sick. And it worries the hell out of you."

The district website says Willis is an eighth grade algebra teacher. Students believe this is her first year at McDonald junior high. If the charges hold true, parents say it should be her last.

Law enforcement officials have confirmed that Willis was arrested, and has now been charged with sexual assault of a child.

A pedophilia watchdog group compiled statistics that estimate about 15 percent of students will be sexually abused in some manner by school staff during their school career and that between one and five percent of teachers sexually abuse or harass students. Another group, the American Association of University Women Foundation, conducted a survey of 1,600 students in eighth through 11th grade and found that 25 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys said a school employee had abused or harassed them.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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