This article mentions child sex abuse. Please read with caution.
A teacher and student caught alone in a room; rumors that student “cheated” with a teacher; that same student and teacher and student together at a high school basketball game, leading some to think they were on a date. These details were revealed in the personnel file of Rachel Goodle.
According to Fox6now.com, in 2022, Rachel Goodle, in her early 20s, was a ninth-grade English teacher at Oak Creek High School in Wisconsin when other students at the school reported that Goodle had sexually abused a male student at the school. Fox6Now.com obtained Goodle’s personnel file amid an ongoing investigation as of this report. TMJ4.com says the student, unnamed in the press, was younger than 16 years old.
The video footage
The primary evidence against Goodle is surveillance footage showing her leaving the school after classes, and returning later wearing a dress. Goodle then met the student in her classroom. They reportedly remained for more than an hour behind closed doors. Janitorial staff encountered them, and cleaning staff later said they assumed Goodle and the boy were mother and son.
At the same time, rumors were rampant at Oak Creek High School that something was going on between Goodle and the boy, including one instance when they sat together at a JV basketball game as if they were on a date. When questioned, the student denied anything sexual happened.
The school district tried to handle it on its own
In Dec. 2022, the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District investigated the alleged relationship between Rachel Goodle and the student. At first, Goodle denied she was alone with the student, despite the video evidence to the contrary, but because Goodle, the student, and the student’s family denied anything sexual happened, she was only suspended. Goodle challenged the terms of the punishment.
The matter seemed settled until an Oak Creek High School resource officer heard the student tell another student he “cheated” with a teacher. After that point, Oak Creek police got involved, and in May 2023, the boy finally admitted what happened.
Goodle’s charges
In June 2023, Goodle was arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child, and sex assault of a student by school staff. She pleaded not guilty. According to Detective Zach Case, Goodle said she and the boy were “in a somewhat friendly relationship.”
According to a statement from the victim’s attorney, this is the second time in less than six years that a teacher at Oak Creek High School was accused of sexual abuse on school grounds and called for an investigation of school leadership. Goodle’s trial is set to begin in April 2024. If convicted. Goodle could spend more than 40 years in prison.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
