Latest Teacher Sex Arrest Raises Questions

    A story out of Texas about an ex-beauty contestant/teacher accused of sex with a male student is raising questions.

    Amy McElhenney, 25, is a former Miss Texas contestant who was teaching at a Carrollton, Texas high school.

    McElhenney was arrested May 25 and charged with having an improper relationship with a student. The Spanish teacher and former Miss Texas contestant faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

    McElhenney's arrest was for allegedly having sex with an 18-year-old student and it has raised questions about the age constraints of the state's three-year-old law criminalizing student-teacher sexual relationships.

    But some lawmakers say the Hebron High School student's status as a legal adult should exempt McElhenney from the felony charge. State Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, wrote the Texas law in 2003 that criminalizes sex between educators and students.

    But she said she wanted the law to apply only to students 17 and younger — uncomfortable with making sex between two legal, consenting adults a felony.

    But other legislators added amendments to Giddings' bill when it reached the floor of the House, making it illegal for educators to have sexual relationships with students of any age.

    Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, proposed dropping the age limit, arguing that teachers wield a power over students that diminishes the pupils' ability to consent.

    Neither McElhenney nor her attorney could immediately be reached for comment.

    The woman's arrest attracted national media interest — which did not surprise Carrollton police Sgt. Pat Murphy, who cited the sensational elements of the case.

    "It's about what I expected for what this case is," Murphy said of the media blitz. "You've got a teacher that was a beauty pageant contestant that is accused of having sex with a student."

    But McElhenney's arrest also prompted debates around the nation concerning Texas' law and the criminality of student-teacher relationships when the pupil is a legal adult.

    Dallas lawyer Jim Moore said he felt the age issue would make jurors less likely to sentence a defendant to the 20-year prison term for an alleged relationship with a consenting adult. Moore represents a Garland school district teacher accused of having such a relationship in 2005.