So when the Belleville News-Democrat reported this morning that Alton High School band director Matthew Lang has been charged with sexual assault and sexual abuse for having sex with a 16 year-old female student (at the school, while class was in session) it was merely a question of whether to go with a tromboner joke or the ol' skin flute line. (Unreal chose to go with the latter earlier this morning.)
Then the paper pointed out that Lang was the third Alton band teacher since 2007 to get into trouble for (allegedly) getting frisky with female students. Just a thought, but maybe the school ought to consider a female band teacher as Lang's replacement.
Details and (in honor of Fark) a would-not hit-it-with-a-ten-foot-pole mugshot after the jump.
Madison County Sheriff's Department
On Tuesday, police received information about the relationship and began investigating Lang, who formerly was employed as the band director at O'Fallon High School.
Police searched Lang's home Wednesday and found information that confirmed Lang had repeatedly engaged in a sexual relationship with the student.
"The investigation has shown that Lang had sex with the student on more than one occasion at school during normal school hours and at locations away from school," Wells said.
And then there's this:
David W. Drillinger was dismissed as band director at the high school in 2007 after he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of "physical contact of an insulting nature" with two female students. He was accused of placing his hand on and rubbing the back and side of a female and by placing his hand on another girl's hand. He pleaded guilty to one count of battery and received two years of court supervision and a $750 fine.
Matthew A. Banks, the assistant band director at Alton High School, was suspended for several months in 2007 following allegations that he acted inappropriately with a female student. Banks had been charged with one misdemeanor count accusing him of placing his chest on the chest and buttocks of a female student that was later dropped for lack of evidence
Guess it's not terribly surprising considering that showing a little skin in Alton (especially at the bar) is business as usual, but it begs the question: what the heck happens at their band camp?
