About South Carolina’s Student-Teacher Sex Laws

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by WILL FOLKS

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Teachers who have sex with their students should face consequences. And earlier this week, FITSNews reported on one such teacher receiving a consequence from the South Carolina State Board of Education (SCSBE).

Two months ago, 32-year-old Victoria Katherine Montgomery of Bluffton, S.C. was arrested and charged with “sexual battery of a student” following an alleged sexual relationship she had with an eighteen-year-old at Hilton Head Island High School. She was promptly placed on leave and her teaching certification suspended by the board.

Such an encounter, if proven, would place Montgomery in violation of the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 16-3-755) – which prohibits “sexual battery with a student” over whom she had “direct supervisory authority.” According to local police, Montgomery oversaw her school’s arts department and was tasked with launching its dance program.

The alleged victim – while not a minor – was not identified. Nor did police indicate the nature of the relationship – aside from confirming it did not involve “aggravated force” on Montgomery’s part.

Montgomery, of Flint, Michigan, certainly would deserve to lose her job if the allegation against her is proven – but as I’ve previously pointed out, we tread onto dangerous ground by assigning a felony charge to her conduct.

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To recap: The age of consent in South Carolina for sexual activity is sixteen. While I believe it should be higher (by at least a year), according to S.C. Code § 16-15-342 (B) it is sixteen.

Since that is the law, how do Palmetto prosecutors justify criminalizing sexual activity between consenting “adults” in one instance but not in others? Put another way, shouldn’t there be a distinction between an unethical act requiring professional, civil consequences and an illegal act which spawns criminal charges?

A teacher or administrator who engages in a sexual relationship (or behaves in a sexually indecent manner) with a student who has not attained the age of consent should absolutely face criminal charges. Also, if there is any evidence of pressure applied on the student by the teacher or administrator – irrespective of their age – that represents the definition of coercion and would be a textbook example of criminal misconduct in office.

But Montgomery’s case – like so many before it – doesn’t fit into either category. There is no suggestion of coercion, and the alleged victim is not only a consenting adult, they are eighteen (i.e. no longer a minor).

How, then, is this still a felony charge?

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Far be it from me to encourage reckless impropriety by teachers – or to suggest that any student-teacher sex is appropriate. Were any teacher to lay a hand on one of my kids, I can assure you it would end poorly for them. But to create an entire category of felonious sexual battery for what amounts to consensual sex between adults strikes me as overkill (to say nothing of a violation of equal protection).

“I believe the intent of South Carolina’s teacher-student sex law is noble,” I wrote recently. “It strives to keep adults in positions of authority from abusing their power in pursuit of personal sexual gratification.”

I’ve also consistently argued that teachers or others who engage in sexual intercourse (or other sex acts) with students who have attainted the age of consent “deserve to be fired.”

“And if it happens more than once, I believe they should be permanently banned from ever serving in a government-run school again,” I added.

But criminally prosecuting Montgomery and others like her for having sex with other consenting adults seems to me to be a violation of equal protection and a waste of prosecutorial resources.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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