(Texas Scorecard) – Another teacher in the Huntsville Independent School District has been charged with a sex crime involving a student.
Lauren Ashley Rudolph, 33, was arrested Thursday by the Huntsville Police Department and charged with improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.
Rudolph was a dyslexia teacher and cheer coach at Huntsville High School.
In a press statement, Huntsville ISD said Rudolph “recently resigned from the district.”
“Huntsville High School administration received concerns requiring immediate attention involving a former high school teacher and cheer coach,” the statement read. “District administration was alerted and promptly initiated an investigation into the allegations. After an extensive and thorough investigation, the District took immediate action to ensure the teacher was removed from the District and will not be returning. The matter was turned over to local law enforcement.”
“At this time, that is all the district will be sharing on this personnel matter,” Huntsville ISD Director of Communications Shannon Hollis told Texas Scorecard.
According to Trinity County Media, Rudolph allowed a student to move in with her, and the two allegedly engaged in a relationship. Rudolph is divorced and has two young daughters.
State records show Rudolph is certified as a classroom teacher and a principal.
Rudolph is the third Huntsville ISD teacher arrested for sex crimes in three weeks.
On March 27, Huntsville High School teacher Eric Buchek was also charged with improper relationship between educator and student.
On March 19, Mance Park Middle School teacher Demondrae Murray was charged with soliciting a prostitute, a state jail felony.
A fourth Huntsville ISD employee who recently resigned, maintenance worker James Randel Blasingime, was arrested on March 6 for an aggravated sexual assault of a child that allegedly occurred in 2018. He was released on a $100,000 bond.
Texas Education Agency misconduct data compiled and published by the Open Records Project shows four additional Huntsville ISD teachers were reported in 2023 for improper relationships with students.
Three held teaching certificates and were sanctioned by the TEA. Two voluntarily surrendered their teaching certificates in lieu of disciplinary proceedings and were added to the Do Not Hire Registry of individuals not eligible to be employed by a public school, while one received a reprimand on her certificate but is still allowed to teach.
The Huntsville ISD teachers are among hundreds of Texas school employees accused of sex crimes involving students and other children.