Famed High School Hit With 5th Teacher Sex Allegation

Teacher at 'Friday Night Lights' school commits suicide
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2014 11:27 AM CDT
Famed High School Hit With 5th Teacher Sex Allegation
A sign celebrating Permian High School's football team.   (Flickr/rarr.)

Until recently, Permian High School was known mostly for football—it's the basis for Friday Night Lights. But that might be changing thanks to a slew of scandals, including one that ended in suicide last night. Police found longtime government teacher and assistant girls golf coach Mark Lampman dead in an open field, just hours after they'd announced a criminal investigation against him, the Odessa American reports. The 47-year-old appeared to have shot himself. Lampman had resigned Tuesday amidst allegations of a sexual relationship with a student—something that's become disturbingly familiar at Permian.

Lampman was the fifth teacher to resign amidst such allegations in the past year, the New York Daily News reports. The last one came just a week ago, when physical education teacher Alisha Carrasco Knighten, 25, went on paid leave over an alleged relationship. "You begin to look at it and say, 'Is there a pattern here?'" the superintendent told CBS 7 at the time. "I've talked to teachers, and I will continue to tell them, 'This is crazy folks! You can't do this!'" (More Permian High School stories.)

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