COMMENTARY | Stacy Schuler disgraced an honorable profession by having sex with at least five male students at Mason High School in Ohio. The former gym teacher and athletic trainer is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity and claims she can't even remember having sex with the teen boys she invited into her home. To add insult to injury, Schuler's attorneys are claiming she is the victim and was taken advantage of by the boys because she was too drunk from the booze she provided to give consent.

Schuler's decision against exercising her right to a jury trial was a smart one -- there would likely be at least a few mothers in the jury pool. The fact the sex occurred between willing young men and a female teacher makes the case no less revolting than if the person in a position of authority had been a male. Schuler's wild romp in her living room is not a one-time occurrence. Witnesses will detail multiple trysts with underage students.

It is teachers like Schuler who have ruined the compassionate outreach many educators would like to offer to their students. Gone are the days where a teacher felt comfortable putting their arm around a crying student or offering after-school tutoring in their classroom. Once upon a time school teachers would not have thought twice about giving a student a lift home after a practice or sitting alone with a student who just needs someone to listen to their problems. Such behavior now would cast suspicion on an educator just attempting to innocently play the role of mentor to troubled teens.

It is hard to fathom how Schuler's attorneys Charlie Rittgers and Charlie Rittgers can sleep at night. The father and son legal team is blaming everyone for Schuler's actions -- but Schuler. It was the Zoloft she was taking for depression, irritable bowel syndrome, lack of "down time," bipolar tendencies and the sheer sexual greed of the teen boys that caused a "woman who had devoted her life to helping others" to wind up in the courtroom.

Real-time tweets from the courtroom by Cincinnati journalists highlight the intense interest in the case. She is charged with 16 felony counts of sexual battery and three misdemeanor offenses relating to offering alcohol to minors. Schuler is 33, taught gym and provided athletic trainer services at Mason High School for a decade.
http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-teacher-indicted-16-felony-counts-sexually-battery-202600378.html