Waverly Community Schools officials claimed in September they were unaware teacher Robert Herzing was under investigation for sex crimes involving children until after his arrest.
A Freedom of Information Act request from Michigan Enjoyer, however, reveals district officials were well aware of the 32-year-old’s penchant for crossing the line with students.
Herzing is currently awaiting an Oct. 28 court appearance to face felony charges of criminal sexual conduct, accosting children for immoral purposes and using a computer to commit a crime following his Sept. 12 arrest in Waverly, CITC reports.
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The charges stem from a months-long undercover investigation that started with a detective at the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office posing as a 15-year-old boy on the gay hookup app Grindr, and ended with Herzing’s arrest after agreeing to meet the fictitious “Ryan” at the Delta Township Library.
Police allege the communications started in January, Herzing disclosed his profession as a high school English teacher in May, and admitted he was looking for a “friends with benefits” relationship. When police arrested Herzing, officers discovered a pink bag containing condoms, “multiple lubes,” sex toys, fur-covered handcuffs, and a “large knife,” Michigan Enjoyer reported.
Chris Huff, director of teaching and learning at WCS, told the Lansing State Journal on Sept. 18 that the district was unaware of the criminal investigation until Sept. 13, and WCS was demanding answers from the Eaton County Sheriff on why district officials weren’t notified sooner.
WCS Superintendent Kelly Blake wrote in a message to parents that “Waverly Community Schools was made aware of a criminal investigation into a district employee’s conduct while off duty.”
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“At this time, there is no indication that any of our students are involved in this investigation,” she wrote. “While we await the legal process to unfold, Waverly Community Schools is also conducting its own investigation in support of our commitment to the safety and well-being of our students.”
A FOIA request for more information about Herzing’s history in the district raises serious questions about that commitment.
Documents produced by WCS show Herzing was placed on paid administrative leave in March after his colleagues reported they overheard him having sexually inappropriate conversations with students about orgasms, his penis, and anal sex.
Herzing reportedly told one student, according to a witness, “that it takes a guy a while to recover but there are other things he can do while waiting” in response to a question about why girls can have multiple orgasms and boys can’t, Michigan Enjoyer reports.
Herzing allegedly told another student his penis “swings up” because “if it’s down, it gets sweaty at the base and can be smelly,” according to the news site.
The teacher was issued a warning to “appropriately redirect inappropriate conversations promptly” and was returned his classroom.
That was the second time Herzing faced accusations of crossing the line with students. A year prior, Waverly provided students access to LGBT publications Out and The Advocate, and a parent complained, though Herzing claimed he accidentally included those publications in his classroom library.
“Herzing’s arrest … confirms that parents are well within their rights to raise concerns about the influx of sexually charged materials in their children’s classrooms,” Michigan Enjoyer reports. “This is not to say that every public school employee who waves a rainbow flag is a pedo. But it is simply a fact that every public school employee eager to force sexual content and conversations onto minors has some sort of agenda, some of which are legitimately criminal.”
The ordeal in Waverly is among innumerable cases of educators sexually abusing students in schools across the country for decades, a phenomenon that has only accelerated with more direct access to minors through social media.
The problem, however, isn’t limited to teachers, as Herzing was at least the fourth Lansing-area public employee to face charges related to child sex crime this year.
Others cited by the Lansing State Journal include longtime Delta Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher, who was nabbed in a sting operation in September, as well as former Holt High School basketball coach Muhammad El-Amin, fired for alleged online sex crimes against children, and Jonathan Ten Brink, a Lansing Community College music professor charged with four felonies after another child sex sting in July.