A Gwinnett County teacher and cross country coach resigned last month, amid a new investigation into allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a student while teaching in Chicago.
Casey Ramel was hired by Gwinnett County Public Schools in 2015 and was in his first year as a literature teacher and coach at Suwanee’s Peachtree Ridge High School.
Attempts to reach Ramel on Wednesday were not successful.
GCPS officials said the school district launched a human resources investigation into Ramel in October when it received a report from Chicago Public Schools detailing “a 2012 allegation of an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old student.”
“Information about it was not reported to GCPS through [Ramel’s] references or in the background check that was run prior to his hiring in Gwinnett,” Gwinnett schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said.
The allegations against Ramel resurfaced after the Illinois district tasked the local Office of the Inspector General with reviewing past sexual abuse cases involving students, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Emily Bolton confirmed. Further details about the allegations were not provided.
Ramel resigned from his Gwinnett post on Oct. 15.
According to his GCPS bio page, Ramel studied in Illinois and in Europe and has been an educator for more than two decades. The Chicago native spent four years at Gwinnett's Shiloh High School before moving to Peachtree Ridge.
"A friend of mine from a million years ago lured me to come down" from Chicago, Ramel told the Gwinnett Daily Post in a September interview.
GCPS submitted a complaint about Ramel to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certifies teachers, on Nov. 1.
Commission director Paul Shaw said the to panel is scheduled to decide whether or not to conduct its own disciplinary investigation into Ramel during a Dec. 12 meeting.
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