Theater Director Carrie Barnhardt-Roberson, who students call BR, hasn’t been at her school at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs since February 27, KOAA reported
Students at a Colorado High School have been protesting the suspension of their theater teacher, who was accused of sexual misconduct.
Theater Director Carrie Barnhardt-Roberson, who students call BR, hasn’t been at her school at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs since February 27, KOAA reported.
The 47-year-old was suspended when police started investigating accusations she’d had an inappropriate relationship with a student, which was alleged to school administrators in an anonymous tip.
Barnhardt-Roberson is married.
The student, 17-year-old Ryan Maikell, said he was pulled from his class to the front office on Tuesday, February 27, and asked if the claims were true.
He and his mother wanted to set the record straight and vehemently denied the allegations.
The student, 17-year-old Ryan Maikell, said he was pulled from his class to the front office on Tuesday, February 27, and asked if the claims were true. He vehemently denies the allegations, and says they are ‘malicious’ and ‘false.’
The 47-year-old was suspended when police started investigating accusations she’d had an inappropriate relationship with a student, which was alleged to school administrators in an anonymous tip. She is a teacher at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs
‘They brought up that someone had accused BR and me of having an inappropriate sexual relationship,’ Maikell said.
‘I was appalled that someone would make false and malicious claims against her and against myself.’
Maikell said he has no idea who could have made the accusations.
Another senior theater student, Tatum Graf, called the allegations ‘outlandish, outrageous and untrue.’
‘I’ve just been racking my brain like who could be malicious enough to make these allegations that could ruin her life?’ she pondered.
Graf and Maikell were supposed to star in the upcoming spring musical, Echo of Love, which was set to open March 15.
But instead they quit on Monday night after a group of student actors protested rehearsal by staging a sit-in and putting black tapes over their mouths.
‘We can’t just standby and let this happen to our director and our mentor,’ Graf told the outlet.
Students and parents believe the theater program is being targeted, and the two stars of the spring musical, Tatum Graf and Maikell, quit in protest of BR’s suspension
Parents said they think the theater program is being targeted because the students and BR push the envelope by doing plays with controversial story lines such as domestic violence, suicide and homosexuality.
‘She uses creative, artistic expression to bring controversial topics that need to be talked out to an audience that’s very, very conservative,’ Tatum’s mother Vanessa Graf said.
Students are demanding that their teacher come back and that the theater program ‘gains respect from the administration.’
Colorado Springs police confirmed to KOAA Tuesday they are investigating allegations, but gave no details.
Academy District 20 issued a statement to the outlet Tuesday, saying: ‘We are following the proper protocols, both internally and with local law enforcement, to better understand the facts of this situation.
‘We can verify Carrie Barnhardt-Roberson is the theater director at Pine Creek High School. However, because this is both a district personnel matter and an ongoing investigation with the Colorado Springs Police Department, we cannot disclose any details of the situation.’
Barnhardt-Roberson won Colorado Theater Educator of the Year in 2008.