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AASD accepts teacher’s resignation

Metzler had been on paid leave during police investigation

The Altoona Area School Board accepted the resignation of Altoona Area High School special education teacher Holly Metzler, ending the paid administrative leave that she has been on since January as police investigated allegations against her.

Metzler faces charges that include three counts of felony disseminating obscene or sexual materials to a minor along with a felony count of unlawful contact with a minor.

The resignation accepted Monday marks the end of the school district’s involvement in providing due process for Metzler, which began initially by putting Metzler under supervision in November and later on paid leave when the police investigation picked up.

“We’ve washed our hands,” district solicitor Carl Beard said Monday.

The district also reported Metzler’s status to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s professional standards and practices commission, which makes decisions about rescinding individual teaching certificates.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s public certification notifications show no action taken on the status of Metzler’s teaching certificate.

She turned herself in to police on Jan. 25 but had been placed on paid administrative leave in early January to aid in the reopened investigation.

Metzler, 45, who is married and lives in Martinsburg, is accused by Altoona police of sending a 17-year-old male high school senior two pictures and a video depicting a naked woman.

According to the charges, the male student eventually told investigators he had contacted Metzler “several weeks after homecoming 2018 through Snapchat and said that he and other students found her attractive,” Altoona police Lt. Ashley Day noted in the charges.

“Metzler was flattered and thought she didn’t look that good and agreed to send the juvenile several photos of herself,” the boy told police, according to the charges.

Metzler’s attorney is Thomas M. Dickey. He accompanied her when she turned herself in and waived her right to a preliminary hearing and when Metzler was released after her preliminary arraignment on a unsecured $25,000 bond.

A formal arraignment for Metzler is scheduled for Friday.

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.

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