High School Teacher's Assistant In Dallas Charged With Sexually Assaulting Student
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas Police have arrested a teacher's assistant at South Oak Cliff High School and charged him with sexual assault of a child-rape.
Court documents obtained by CBS 11 show the victim is a 16-year-old girl who attends the school.
Markel Hall, 34, worked with the band at the high school and a Dallas ISD spokeswoman said the district placed him on administrative leave.
CBS 11 requested an interview with him at the Dallas County Jail Thursday but there has been no response.
The arrest affidavit says on Monday, "The suspect picked her up from school and took her to his house where they had sex..." and that "... a separate charge of improper relationship between student and teacher will be filed with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office on a later date."
The case is one of dozens of inappropriate relationships between students and educators being investigated across the state this school year.
The Texas Education Agency says there were 49 of these investigations opened in September and last month.
The agency told the Senate Education Committee this week that there was a spike in these investigations last year after the legislature passed a law last year.
Records show in 2017-2018, there were 429 cases investigated.
Here are the agency's statistics from prior years:
Fiscal year 2012-13: 163
Fiscal year 2013-14: 179
Fiscal year 2014-15: 188
Fiscal year 2015-16: 222
Fiscal year 2016-17: 282
Fiscal year 2017-18: 429
Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa praised the law. "I think the law was the right thing to do. The penalties are very heavy. I think anybody who's unsure will go ahead and report, and I think that's one of the reasons of the spike."
Dr. Hinojosa told us the district educated all of its employees about the new law. "We've done significant training with all of our employees who had to sign off on the book on what's required, and what they have to do and how they have to respond."
