Private school teacher targeted in sex probe

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - D.C. detectives are investigating a third-grade teacher who was banished from a private school at the Washington National Cathedral after photos of young children being improperly touched were found on a school-owned camera, officials said.

Commander Lillian Overton, head of youth investigations, said the photographs showed “inappropriate touching” of young children. The probe was in its early stages and could take weeks to complete, she said.

“We’re still trying to identify all the children. There is more than one,” Overton said. Police do not know if the children attended Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School where the photos were found, or were tutored somewhere in the Greater Washington area, she said.

 No one has been charged in the case, and police and officials have not identified the teacher. Officials at the school, which serves about 380 students from prekindergarten through third grade, have sent several letters to parents and faculty to keep them apprised of the situation.

“Our primary concern is for the safety of our young children,” Paula J. Carreiro, head of the school, said in a statement. “As soon as the facts of this case came to light, the proper authorities were called and the individual in question was placed on administrative leave.”

School officials said they have notified most of the parents of students who may have had contact with the teacher during his three-year stint. They are also providing counselors to families who have asked for help about how to talk with their children about the issue.

On June 9, administrators discovered the photos on a school camera that had been in possession of the third-grade teacher, school officials said. Security guards escorted the teacher from the prestigious campus that afternoon and ordered him to have no more contract with the students, school officials said.

The teacher has contacted several parents to explain his situation and indicated that he may have left the area, school officials said.

Beauvoir was founded in 1933 as a primary school for students who would move onto one of the Cathedral schools.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com