Luke ‘Todd’ Scipioni was fired in 2014 after it was discovered he had a sexual relationship with one of his former students
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a school district’s appeals request that sided with a teacher who was fired for having sex with an 18-year-old girl on the night of her graduation. The decision will allow the man to return to teaching.
Social studies teacher Luke ‘Todd’ Scipioni was fired in 2014 after a sexual relationship that occurred a decade earlier came to light.
The Supreme Court’s decision to deny the request puts an end to the legal battles involving the Cornwall-Lebanon School District.
Superintendent Philip Domenic is not pleased with the decision that would allow Scipioni to return to Cedar Crest High School.
‘The facts of this case remain undisputed. What has been in dispute is the appropriate consequence for Mr. Scipioni’s conduct,’ he said in an emailed statement to the Lebanon Daily News.
‘The Cornwall-Lebanon School District has been firm in its stance that this conduct was not appropriate for a public school teacher. The District will, however, abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upholding the arbitrator’s award and returning Mr. Scipioni to employment.’
The identity of the girl has not been made public. Scipioni was the coach of the high school girl’s basketball team in 2003-2004.
He developed a relationship with one of the players after she told him she had been sexually abused, which she later recanted.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled Scipioni can return to teaching
According to court documents, the pair first had sex on the night of the girl’s graduation, just a month after her 18th birthday.
The arbitrator said Scipioni was not culpable for any relationship that occurred after her graduation.
The sexual relationship continued throughout the summer and ended when the girl went to college in the fall. According to court documents, they continued communicating after she left.
Rumors of the affair began circulating, so Scipioni resigned as the basketball coach, blaming family pressures.
Scipioni was the coach of the girl’s basketball team at Cedar Crest High School (pictured) when he developed a relationship with the girl
In 2010, he was denied a request to become the boy’s basketball coach. He complained to the principal, who said they did not want him in the position due to rumors of the affair. He vehemently denied the allegations.
However, he did admit he got ‘too close’ to her and it had caused him ‘a lot of marital problems’, according to the Lebanon Daily News.
Scipioni allegedly admitted the affair to his wife and the girl admitted to it when questioned by the superintendent, though she later recanted.
Domenic received a call from an anonymous woman in the summer of 2014, while Scipioni was in the middle of a divorce, detailing the affair, prompting him to launch an investigation.
Scipioni was fired in October 2014 during his 18th year with the school district.
The arbitrator said Scipioni should be reinstated after a one-year suspension for not being truthful. A lower court reversed the arbitrator but was overruled by an appeals court. The supreme court upheld the appeals court’s decision.
Scipioni’s ex-wife said she suspected the two were having an affair during the second half of 2004. She found messages confirming her suspicions on her husband’s computer, according to the Pennsylvania Record.