UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Zackary Winchester, a teacher at Benton Heights Elementary, was arrested Thursday and charged with taking indecent liberties with a child.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest of Winchester, who has been placed on administrative leave.
The alleged incident occurred in February and involved a person under the age of 16. School officials stated the incident did not involve a student at Benton Heights Elementary. Winchester has been employed with the school system since 2016.
Parents at the school received a phone call on Thursday morning informing them of an arrest involving a teacher.
The message stated a teacher was charged with indecent liberties with a child, but did not release a name, citing an ongoing investigation.
School officials told parents they were not at liberty to release further information at that time.
Carla Mungo, a parent at Benton Heights Elementary, described the notification as “shock, literal shock.”
She expressed frustration that the teacher’s identity was initially withheld.
“I understand there’s an ongoing investigation. We deserve a name. There’s no need to try to shield this person,” Mungo said. “We deserve to know who that person is. To know if our children had interactions with them.”
Despite the allegations, Mungo said the school has previously been a positive environment for her family.
“We love this school. It’s a great school. The teachers are great, and just the thought that something like that could be going on is scary,” Mungo said.
Other parents shared their concerns during school pickup at the end of the day.
Quantez Threatt, a father with three children at the school, said the news was “mind-blowing” and caught him off guard. “Like I said, I got three kids to go here. So to hear, to hear that, kind of just caught me off guard,” Threatt said.
Threatt questioned the safety of the classroom environment following the arrest. “Who’s to say? This is not the first time this has happened,” Threatt said.
He said he intended to talk with his children about their experiences at school.
“Now I got to go home and ask questions about, you know, was there anything weird going on while you were in it, while they were in the classroom with them?”
Winchester will remain on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Thursday marked the final day of classes for students before the start of spring break.
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