Court rules that teachers can have sex with 18-year-old students

The Associated Press reports that the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that the state law that bars teachers from having sex with students doesn't explicitly include students who are 18 or older. The judges said the law is too vague.

This stems from a case involving a choir teacher at Hoquiam High School and an 18-year-old student in the choir. According to the opinion information sheet, no one denies the facts of the case --- it's the vagueness of the law that was called into question.

It would be interested to see how this might affect the person's teaching certificate, if it is determined that no crime was committed. A teacher found guilty of sex crimes against students have their licenses permanently revoked.

Or, perhaps the law will just get revised.

You can read the opinion for yourself. It's rather interesting how closely the judges parse the words "student" and "minor" to try to determine the intention of the law.

THEOLYMPIAN