Fife School Board accepts resignation of teacher arrested in 2007
A Fife High School business teacher who pleaded guilty to sending sexually suggestive text messages to a former student has resigned, though the change won’t go into effect for nearly three more months.
The Fife School Board voted unanimously Monday night to accept the resignation of Steven Weidenbach, said deputy superintendent Jeff Short.
Weidenbach, 28, pleaded guilty in March to sending sexually suggestive text messages to a former student. Six other charges against him were dropped in a plea agreement. They involved text messages to current and former students.
His resignation is effective at the end of this semester, Jan. 23, 2009. He has been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested Oct. 5, 2007.
Weidenbach will continue to receive his annual teacher’s salary of $46,681 until his resignation takes effect.
Reached on his cell phone Tuesday, Weidenbach declined to comment. He referred a reporter to an attorney, who didn’t return a phone message.
The School Board accepted the resignation after the Fife School District completed its own investigation of accusations against Weidenbach. Short said the district presented the results to the teacher and his attorney in September.
“We obviously felt we had a strong case,” Short said. “At that time they decided it was in their best interest to work through some type of resignation.”
Short said the Jan. 23 resignation date is what the district, Weidenbach and his attorney agreed upon.
If the district had sought to terminate Weidenbach, he would have been entitled to a hearing, which would have dragged the case on, Short said. Under state law, the district is required to continue paying Weidenbach until his employment ends, Short said.
The state Office of Professional Practices expects to complete its investigation of Weidenbach next month. The office will determine whether Weidenbach will keep his certificate to teach in Washington, in addition to deciding on disciplinary options.
Weidenbach was charged last November with seven misdemeanor counts based on text messages and phone calls a prosecutor said he sent to two current and three former Fife High students, all females.
According to police records, Weidenbach asked current and former students in text messages what was the “most scandalous” thing they had ever done and who they would bring to a desert island.
Weidenbach pleaded guilty in Fife Municipal Court to one count of telephone harassment, a gross misdemeanor. He did not admit guilt, and entered the plea because he said he believed a jury “could find me guilty.”
Weidenbach received a two-year deferred sentence and was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.
The young woman whom Weidenbach pleaded guilty to harassing told police that her former teacher started text-messaging her in November 2006, when she was 18. She had graduated the previous June.
She said Weidenbach asked her who she’d slept with, what teacher she would want to spend time with, and what was the “most scandalous” thing she’d ever done. The former student said Weidenbach, who lived near her, also said, “Too bad they put the fence up in your backyard, can’t see you in the hot tub anymore,” police records say.
She said she never felt threatened by the comments, “maybe just a little weirded out,” police records say.
Weidenbach was in his fifth year of teaching at Fife High when he was arrested.
Last April, a Fife High student and her mother filed a lawsuit accusing the Fife School District of failing to protect the student from retaliation after she accused Weidenbach of sending sexually suggestive messages. Weidenbach also is named in the Pierce County Superior Court lawsuit.
Hailey McDaniel, 18, a senior when the lawsuit was filed, and her mother, Dessie McDaniel, accused Weidenbach of sending hundreds of inappropriate text messages to the teen.
After the daughter reported the messages to police, the school district allowed her to be “tormented on a daily basis by fellow students and staff,” according to the lawsuit.
The two charges stemming from Hailey McDaniel’s accusations were among the six that were dropped in the plea agreement.
Short has said the district enforced its zero-tolerance policy against harassment.
Dessie McDaniel said Tuesday that she’s glad Weidenbach won’t teach again at Fife High. But she objected to the district continuing to pay him when he’s not teaching.
“I don’t think his behavior should be rewarded,” Dessie McDaniel said. “I just don’t think that’s a very good use of our tax dollars.”
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
