Former teacher accused of relationship

LAMPASAS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - A former Lometa ISD kindergarten teacher is accused of having an improper relationship with a student.

Lampasas County authorities arrested Sara Elizabeth Dickison, 27, Thursday after a month-long investigation.

Lometa ISD officials began their own internal investigation on Sept. 11 when they received a complaint from a former male student who graduated in May. The district immediately reported the matter to the sheriff's office.

Dickison resigned shortly after on Sept. 15. A court affidavit said the sheriff's office received an official complaint against the former teacher on Sept. 18.

That document detailed "allegations of a Lometa Independent School District teacher having sexual intercourse with a student who was enrolled in the district during the time that the sexual intercourse was occurring." It also said the alleged victim was a Lometa High School student.

About 320 students attend Lometa schools, a district just northwest of Lampasas.

In an unrelated yet similar case, police arrested a Fredericksburg High School coach just 90 miles away for the same charge on the same day of Dickison's arrest. Michael G. Stevens, 42, was held on $100,000 bond in the Gillespie County Jail, charged with having an improper relationship with a student.

Stevens is a high school physics teacher, head track coach, and the ninth-grade football coach. He has been a science teacher with the Fredericksburg Independent School District since 1995.

"This was a female student, 17 or older," Fredericksburg Police Chief Paul Oestreich told Austin News, "so she is an adult."

On Wednesday, district officials suspended Stevens, whose wife is the principal at Fredericksburg Middle School. That suspension was pending the outcome of the investigation.

Texas Penal Code said the offense of improper relationship between educator and student involves sexual contact or intercourse between a student and a school employee and is a second degree felony.

If convicted, Stevens and Dickison could face a two to 20 year prison sentence and up to a $10,000 fine.