MIAMI COUNTY — A former Bethel High School teacher is facing charges after being accused of signing the name of a student’s parent on school documents.
Andrea Bullmaster, 41, of Dayton, was charged early last month with two counts of forgery and two counts of tampering with records, according to court records filed in Miami County Common Pleas Court.
Bullmaster, who had been employed with the district for seven months, has been accused of exchanging thousands of messages with a student and even forging his mother’s signature on documents.
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An incident report filed with the Miami County Sheriff’s Office in January stated that a woman wanted to make a telephone harassment complaint. She told deputies that a teacher from her son’s school was communicating inappropriately with her son, who was a freshman at the time.
The mother told deputies she became aware of the situation when her son came home with gifts from Bullmaster. She later found messages between her son and his teacher. The report noted that while the messages were not criminal in nature, it was apparent that there was an emotional and flirtatious facet to their communication.
Data was then collected from both Bullmaster’s and the student’s phones and thousands of messages were found between the two through text and social media. Messages were sent on a daily basis before, during, and after school hours, according to the report.
At one point, Bullmaster asked the student if his mom would be “cool” with her signing his mom’s name on a form to get his schedule changed to where he would be spending multiple class periods with her.
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Bullmaster also allegedly sent photos of herself to the boy.
News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson reached out to Bethel Local Schools for a comment on the situation. While they declined to speak on camera, they did send a statement that said they have “fully cooperated” with the investigation into the allegations.
“During the investigation, Bullmaster submitted her resignation which was accepted by the Board of Education on March 20, 2023. The district will continue to support any ongoing legal proceedings to ensure that justice is served. As this is an ongoing legal matter, Bethel Local Schools will not be able to provide any further details or comments at this time,” the statement read.
Bullmaster has pleaded not guilty to the charges. She’s expected to be back in court Thursday morning.
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