(The singular form of the pronoun, "they," will be used in this article in order to protect and prevent from hinting at the identities of relevant parties).

Everything I know is a lie! Well -- no --- everything I "know" might not be the "truth."

I graduated from a high school in a parish (the Louisiana equivalent to a "county") that has repeated embarrassment due to multiple inappropriate and sexual relationships between students and teachers. So much so that headlines and articles include words like "http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/03/hahnvi...another" and "again." The stories were covered not only byhttp://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/05/rk_smith_teacher_booked_with_m.html local news, but other news outlets including http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3364718/Ch...DailyMail and http://www.inquisitr.com/2355206/rachel-respess-an...Inquisitr. My parish worked diligently inhttp://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2013/10/st_charles_parish_rated_an_a_s.html earning “A” ratings and a reputation for producing active pro-football players only to have it overshadowed by these headlines. I used to struggle to explain where my high school is located. Now, people know it all too well because of the news coverage of inappropriate student-teacher affairs.

I guess when the allegations were for three teachers in the span of a little over two years at the rival high school, I was shocked, but it didn't hit too close to home in my mind. I knew it was wrong. Creepy even. But I felt like just any onlooker. It was in my parish, I knew of some people tied that were tied to that school, but it wasn't personal. When it was a new teacher at my former middle school, I became upset. But I had only seen this new teacher about three times before their arrest. I didn’t know him well enough to feel personally affected by the charges. A few days ago, one of my former teacher's faces began popping up all over the internet facing similar serious allegations for inappropriate sexual conduct with multiple students. This is when the inappropriate behavior within the parish finally slapped me in the face. I knew this person. It was horribly upsetting. I never really had to deal with the experience of the news officially shattering my view of a teacher whom I once looked up to before.

Many of my friends, former classmates, and even strangers have been posting about the situation. Responses range from jokes like, "Wow, where were the teachers like this when I was in school?” or “Hot for teacher, I see.” to one poster even asking to bring back public lynchings.

I personally don’t know how to feel right now. I don't know how to deal.

Teachers have incredibly huge effects on their students lives. I can't even begin to count the multitude of "write about one teacher who has positively impacted you," prompts that are circulating around. Teachers are supposed to be these heroes who save their students from ignorance and try to get them to read long novels and plays from the 1600s instead of looking it up on Spark Notes (you don't listen, but you appreciate them while skimming through the No Fear Shakespeare web page). We tend to remember the teachers who taught with such passion that they made us love school and work harder toward our educational goals.

Teachers also have the capability to be villains. That time a teacher completely insulted your work and you decided that you hated writing from then on. That gym teacher who screamed at you during the rope climbing unit so you never wanted to climb a rope again. Maybe it was that one math teacher who talked so fast and never answered questions that you decided to write off math as a legal form of torture permitted and enforced by the school system.

High school is a critical time for puberty and development. Sometimes teens feel like they have it all down. Like they know everything. I'll admit it, my friends and I were a bit like that. We wanted what we wanted and didn't like to hear "no," even though someone needed to say it. Teenage judgement can be way off. Our brains were still developing. We had a couple of young, very attractive teachers at our school and I don't think it was secret to anyone what students thought about their instructors.

I think a considerable number of teenagers tend to push the envelope and dance on a metaphorical boundary line. Some of us do this with our parents all the time. What can we get away with? What is and isn't allowed? But when we start getting too comfortable and inappropriate, someone has to shut it down. Never add fuel to the teenage fire. This is why we have parents and legal guardians who are still responsible for us during this critical time of development.

But parents can't be with us at all times, especially not at school. Our teachers and administrators have to take on the role of responsibility. As soon as we step on campus, they become liable for anything that happens to us.

Teachers know that they are supposed to be a responsible adult figure for their students. Parents have trusted them with their children to give them an education in a safe and stable learning environment. The school district puts its trust in teachers to uphold certain standards and values. There are rules about not texting your students for a reason. There are reasons teachers should not have inappropriate contact or relationships with their students. Not maintaining professionalism and stepping out of line is strictly prohibited. I remember going through these rules and more in class at the beginning of every single school year in every class. It was required, and not a secret to anyone. Inappropriate sexual behavior violates the trust by the students, the parents, the school and the district that the teacher will do their job and maintain the proper learning environment. Throwing off the balance and deciding to date or participate in sexual activity with students is crossing an important boundary line. Even if the student is 18+ years old, that teacher is still their teacher. Therefore, it is wrong. Any form of sexual conduct or contact with your students is against the law. There are boundary lines for a reason. Relationships like that just disrupt the high school ecosystem. It's a distraction. Working in a high school does not make you a high schooler, so don't act like or date one.

With that being said, feelings suck. It's hard to control feelings. High school is a disgusting cesspool of raging teenage hormones. Emotions are high. Plus, kids don't necessarily become numb and emotionless individuals when they become adults either (at least not by requirement). Is it normal to develop feelings for people that you probably shouldn't? Yes. Totally. Should you act on them? No. Self control is important. We shouldn't just do what we want when we want with no regard to how it affects others. I can't help thinking how these inappropriate relationships affect the spouses and children of the teachers and the family and future of the student.

I would be a hypocrite if I said I never thought a teacher was attractive. I would be lying if I said my friends and I never talked about our attractive teachers. Thinking a teacher is cute is normal. Flirting with your teacher or your student is crossing a line. Having sexual relations with your teacher or your student is entering into a terrible territory.

Teachers, as the responsible adult figure, need to shut down any inappropriate behavior. They shouldn't entertain flirting. They shouldn't be sending, receiving or answering texts to and from students . They shouldn't be developing relationships outside of the normal student-teacher relationship. Your teacher is supposed to teach you, that's why they're called teachers, not lovers, buddies, or friends.

I want to say that the best way to handle “consensual” student-teacher affairs is to stop cracking jokes and looking for people to blame. I did feel like this. Now, I find myself pointing the finger. How do these teachers keep getting hired? Some of the allegations against my former teacher came from a time when I was still attending that school. I don't want to blame the school system, but I do. Although this isn’t about me, I still can’t help but feel a little peeved. I feel like the school district put its students at risk. Four separate teachers within the span of two years, to our knowledge, have been both accused and charge. However there have been others within the span of less than a decade, all in the same district. I want to know what the schools and the district intend to do about it.

Part of me wants to feel okay with calling some of these relationships consensual because the students agreed and were active participants. The students themselves may even call it that, especially the ones with angry parents who made the initial reports for them against their will. However, most high school students are not mentally or legally in the position to even make these choices to even call the relationships “consensual.” The fact that the most recent case had an article that threw in the term, “sexual battery,” makes me question just how “consensual” these relationships supposedly are. As for our district and parish, we look absolutely ridiculous right now. I am almost certain that my former teacher, being the most recent to face charges, will not be the last.

Some have attempted to make the case that these individuals are still good teachers, that behaviors outside of class have nothing to do with their teaching abilities. But they're wrong. Keeping students safe and maintaining professionalism is a part of the job. Doctors can’t have sexual relationships with their patients. 30+ years old co-workers get fired all the time for having sexual relationships. It’s inappropriate, unprofessional, and arguably unethical.

After the news of the allegations, I found myself questioning everything that I thought I knew about my former teacher. I initially came to the conclusion that I didn't really know my former teacher at all. I now think that may not necessarily be entirely true. The reason students didn't know that these teachers are attracted to underaged students or are engaging in inappropriate conduct is because they’re not supposed to. We aren't supposed to know about their kinks or their sexual desires. We get the short biography about their lives on syllabus day, and after that it’s education time for the rest of the year. I knew my former teacher in an incredibly shallow, one dimensional sense, as absolutely nothing but a teacher figure. Maybe that is the best way to know our teachers, especially until we graduate. Maybe I just knew this person in the only way that I was supposed to: just my teacher.