Seven students at Olentangy Hyatts Middle School have been charged with either assaulting a teacher or complicity to assault for an incident in May where they placed urine and semen on food their teachers then ate.
The students, a 15-year-old and six 14-year-olds were charged in Delaware County Juvenile Court Tuesday afternoon.
The 15-year-old and two 14-year-old students were charged with assault on a teacher, a fifth-degree felony.
According to Delaware County Juvenile Court documents, the three students brought in plastic bags containing semen or urine and placed the liquids in food they were preparing for their teachers to eat. Documents note that one of the students brought in his own semen but did not actually place it on the food. Documents note that they encouraged the other students and planned the offense, however.
The other four 14-year-olds were charged with complicity to assault on a teacher, also fifth-degree felonies. Court documents state that these four students knew that the fluids were being mixed into the food but said nothing.
Additionally, one 14-year-old was also charged with tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, for deleting videos and texts from his phone that proved he knew what the other students were doing.
The students’ arraignments before Delaware County Juvenile Court Judge David Hejmanowski have been set for Sept. 16 and Sept. 20.
Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin made the following statement Wednesday morning:
“It’s time for the judicial system to do its job, and we have full confidence it will serve the victims while holding the students accountable. Now is the time to be considerate of all parties involved. It is not a time to use social media as a destructive or vengeful means of messaging, which unfortunately has become all too common in today’s society. The sheriff’s office remains committed to supporting our teachers and students in creating safe and productive learning environments.”
Additionally, Kristyn Wilson, the assistant director of communications for the Olentangy Local Schools District, released a statement on behalf of the district Wednesday.
“We are aware that charges have been filed in this case, and we thank law enforcement for their due diligence,” the statement reads. “As a district, we are saddened that these charges are a result of actions that took place at one of our schools. Our teachers deserve respect and kindness, and anything less than that is completely unacceptable. We will continue to support law enforcement in every way possible.”
Wilson added that the students have faced disciplinary actions at the school, but she could not specify what they were.
“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits school districts from disclosing specific outcomes,” Wilson stated in an email Wednesday. “However, we can say with the information that was available at the time of the incident, we immediately acted in accordance with district policies and state law.”
