SNOHOMISH — A fifth-grade teacher, acquitted in April of charges after a teenage boy claimed he was groped and propositioned in a pool, is leaving the Snohomish School District.
According to the district, teacher Mitchell McLeod and the district agreed that McLeod’s resignation would be effective Aug. 31. He will receive a year’s compensation.
"He resigned his position based on a negotiated settlement, not because of anything he did, but because of the attended publicity of the criminal charge, which he successfully defended," said his lawyer, Mitchell Cogdill of Everett.
McLeod was a fifth-grade teacher at Dutch Hill Elementary School. He had been on paid administrative leave last year.
"Absent this resolution, the district faced lengthy, costly termination proceedings as provided by Washington law," district spokeswoman J. Marie Merrifield said.
"Situations like this are difficult and unfortunate. Given the circumstances of this situation, this resolution was in the best interests of the district."
A jury in April found McLeod innocent of charges of fourth-degree assault and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.
McLeod was arrested in December 2001, after the Snohomish boy, then 16, told police he had been groped and propositioned in the 24-Hour Fitness lap pool in Lynnwood.
The future of McLeod’s teaching license is being decided. The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction is continuing an investigation.
Cogdill said McLeod was prepared to defend himself if the school district used the incident as grounds for firing.
"But he didn’t simply because of the publicity" surrounding the case, Cogdill said. "It makes it difficult to go back to the classroom after stuff like that appears in the press."
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