School wants teen in Korat teacher-affair scandal back in class
A Nakhon Ratchasima teenager who allegedly became entangled in an affair with a school director is being urged to return to classes after skipping the first six days of the new semester.
Nathapop Boonthongtho, 51, director of Ban Patong Thanoen Samakkee School in Bua Yai district, has been suspended pending a disciplinary investigation.
School officials have urged the parents of the unnamed 14-year-old student to send her back to class so she can resume her studies.
A source at the school said the girl was back home after spending last week with relatives in Sakhon Nakhon, but “wasn’t ready to come to class”.
The source said teachers, concerned about her emotional state, had no intention of raising the scandal with her.
It was important that she return to class, though, the source said, because it would help her get over the trauma and she needed to keep up with her lessons and take exams.
Nathapop has reportedly told police he would meet case investigators at Bua Yai precinct on Wednesday (January 31).
Police are mulling charges of “taking away” a minor under 15 for a lewd act and rape of a minor under 15.
A school committee brought the scandal to the media’s attention early last week, producing Line-app chat messages from the girl’s mobile phone.
Nakhon Ratchasima Primary Education Service Area Office 6 launched a fact-finding probe and determined there might have been wrongdoing.
The matter was forwarded to the provincial education committee to begin a disciplinary probe, which was expected to take 120 days. Nathapop, if found liable, could be dismissed from the civil service without pension.
He has not reported for work since the scandal emerged, either at the school or the education office where he was ordered transferred last Monday pending the outcome of the disciplinary investigation.