A teacher in the Lebanon Public School district is under investigation, concerning allegations of "inappropriate conduct," according to the Connecticut State Police.
Troopers said district administrators contacted them earlier this week.
The superintendent of schools in Lebanon told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters the unnamed teacher at Lyman Memorial High School has been placed on paid administrative leave.
A video appears to show the teacher climbing a ladder in the dark and going down a zip line at a social gathering of students in Bozrah over the weekend.
The clip was circulating among students and on social media, including SnapChat. NBC Connecticut has a copy of the nearly two-minute long video in question.
Phrases like "let's go," "move out of the way," and a countdown from the number five, could be heard, before the reported teacher in question takes hold of a zip line and swings across it for approximately 15 seconds. The crowd erupts, as it happens and student, Tanner Evans, who said he was there explains the teacher then dropped into a body of water before drying off and leaving the gathering.
"All of a sudden, she just like huffed it down the zip line and it was like ‘Woah, the teacher just did that.’ Everyone was pretty shook," Evans told NBC Connecticut after school Thursday.
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Evans, a senior at Lyman Memorial, doesn't know who allegedly invited the high school teacher -- who is now on paid leave -- to a Memorial Day weekend gathering he described as students celebrating the end of the year at a field in Bozrah. Evans said the teacher was gone after 15 minutes.
"I just heard her, 'Are you guys going to tell me when to jump?' And she was standing by the ladder. She was pretty hesitant. After she came out of water, she was pretty wet obviously, so she went down and dried herself off and I'm pretty sure she left after that," Evans said.
Superintendent Robert Angeli would not discuss the nature of the allegations or confirm the teacher's name, but, assures the school community this teacher did not teach any classes on Wednesday before being escorted off school grounds around lunch time. Administrators were made aware of the allegations against the staff member in question after school Tuesday, according to Angeli.
The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters are not naming that person because the district investigation is not complete and no criminal charges have been filed.
State police told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters they are investigating the allegations of "inappropriate conduct." One mom who wants to remain anonymous said the teacher taught her son.
"I'm really concerned. My son is a student at Lyman and I would hope that the teachers would be good role models and I'm really sad to hear this. I would think there needs to be repercussions and, you know, if she loses her job, that's really sad but she should've thought before she did what she did," she said.
Evans said he did not see any alcohol at the party and feels maybe it wasn't the best idea, but believes it isn't too serious.
"It was pretty funny to see our teacher go down a zip line, but I think if she does get booted, then it's a little unfair," Evans said.
NBC Connecticut reached out to this particular teacher, stopping by at her house, over email, on social media and by phone, along with reaching out to her union contact, the Connecticut Education Association in Hartford, but nobody got back to us.
None of the nine members of the school board returned our emails and phone calls either.
