A Wisconsin special education teacher has resigned after admitting to performing oral sex on a student after being accused of multiple sexual assaults.
Jessica Kelbel was a special education teacher at The Richardson School in Madison when she was being investigated for sexual assault of a student by school staff.
She resigned shortly after the investigation started.
The Richardson School is listed as a therapeutic day school that “specializes in supporting children, adolescents and young adults who have diagnoses of developmental/neurological disabilities, and behavioral and emotional concerns.”
In December of 2023, a witness told police they were made aware of a sexual relationship between a student and staff member had been going on for roughly a year and a half at the private school, according to the criminal complaint.
Another witness came forward to tell police they overhead Kelbel talking about sex on the phone with the victim.
“[The witness] said Kelbel talked to Child Victim about not wanting Child Victim to tell police that the two of them had sex.”
When a Madison police detective asked the victim if he engaged in any of the alleged activity with Kebel or any other staff, he said he had not, according to ABC.
A month later, during an interview with Kelbel, police say she admitted to having oral sex with the victim.
“We had sex back at my sister’s place,’ Kelbel said. She told police she performed oral sex on the victim for a few minutes and he consented.
The school admitted they were aware of Kebel’s inappropriate communication with the victim before the she was charged.
“The victim’s mother called with concern of contact on Snap Chat, expressing that her son ‘has crush on teacher’ and also that her son knew personal information about Kelbel pertaining to Kelbel’s family and children.”
The school said that this was in violation of their school policy and stated they handled it internally.
“In April 2022, a matter was brought to our attention regarding contact on social media and investigated. Though social media contact is a violation of our code of conduct, the content did not merit further investigation and was addressed according to normal company policies and procedures,” the school said in a statement.
They claim Kebel chose to resign while they were conducting their internal investigation.
Kebel’s husband filed for divorce earlier this month and is expected to appear in court for her initial appearance on March 7, 2024, for one felony charge of sexual assault of a student by school staff.
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