Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
KAYSVILLE — A Davis High School teacher has been arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of her students.
Brianne Altice, 34, was booked into jail for investigation of two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
A 17-year-old boy reported to investigators he had had sex with Altice at least seven times from January of 2012 to October of 2013, according to a Davis County Jail report.
"The victim was a student of the suspect during at least one of the sexual encounters," the report states.
Five of the encounters happened at Altice's South Weber home, and two others in Kaysville, including at least one time at a park, the report states.
The teen contacted police on Monday. He was able to accurately describe the tattoos on Altice's body as well as the layout of her home, police said. Altice told police she had sex with the boy at least twice, according to the report.
Altice was placed on paid administrative leave by the Davis School District pending the outcome of an investigation.
Altice started teaching in the district in 2004 as a prep time specialist at Wasatch Elementary School. In 2005 she was hired as an English teacher at Sunset Junior High. In August of 2012 she was hired as an English teacher at the high school.
"Anytime a story surfaces like this ... I think it all causes us concern because these are members of the community that are held to a higher standard," said district spokesman Chris Williams.
Anytime a story surfaces like this ... I think it all causes us concern because these are members of the community that are held to a higher standard.
–district spokesman Chris Williams
Altice is the latest in a number of teachers or former teachers in Utah accused of sexually abusing children.
• Stephen Paul Niedzwiecki, 34, a former teacher and basketball coach at Jefferson Academy in Kaysville, was ordered to stand trial Monday on eight counts of forcible sodomy, one count of attempted rape, and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, for allegedly abusing a 15-year-old student.
• A trial for Courtney Jarrell, 22, is scheduled to begin in December. Jarrell is a former Riverton High math teacher and basketball coach accused of inappropriate sexual relations with a 17-year-old student.
• Kenneth William Prince, 61, a former longtime teacher at South Ogden Junior High School, is currently facing allegations of abusing students a decade ago.
• In April, Broch Clyde DeGraff, 28, who was teaching kindergarten and coaching boys and girls soccer at Liahona Preparatory Academy, was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison after being convicted of having repeated sexual encounters with two female students.
Williams said that a teacher is reminded many times during the course of their careers not to have relations with students. He said Davis High is an excellent school and incidents like this cast a dark shadow over the school and all teachers in general.
But while incidents like Altice's arrest cause everyone concern, Williams doesn't know if it calls for any additional training of teachers. He said not having relationships or abusing students isn't something that should have to be taught.
"This is common sense stuff," he said. "I don't think we necessarily have to hold any special training. This is common sense."
Williams said teachers need to remember it's not just with face-to-face contact that teachers are held to a higher standard, but also emailing, texting and phone calls with students.
Video Contributing: Mike Anderson
