Principal had prior affair with ex-student, records say
CLEVELAND — The Solon High School principal recently accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a former student told school officials last month that she had an affair with her accuser in 2006, after the student graduated, records say.
Erin Short, a 33-year-old vice-principal in 2006, told Superintendent Fred Bolden the woman was 19 years old and in her freshman year in college when the two entered into a relationship, according to a copy of the police investigative file.
The student, who initially made the allegations via an email to school board members under a false name, said in a written statement to police that the relationship did not turn physical until she was in college but said she believed Short began a “calculated cultivation of in inappropriate emotional relationship” with her during her senior year by showing her preferential treatment, befriending her parents and “showering her with gifts.”
“I believe the goal of this relationship was for me to engage in a sexual relationship with her immediately following graduation,” the statement read.
Short’s attorney, Larry Zukerman, said in a phone interview Friday that the student’s accusations that Short groomed her for a sexual relationship were “just preposterous.”
“I think this is uncorroborated, unsubstantiated defamation of my client as a result of this girl being outed as creating a fictitious name and drafting fraudulent statements against my client,” Zukerman said.
Zukerman reiterated his past statements that no illegal conduct occurred between the two and that their relationship was consensual and appropriate.
“This would not be the first May-September relationship in history, nor will it be the last,” he said. “Two lawfully aged people can engage in whatever type of legal activity they wish.”
Solon police released copies of the entire investigative file after the probe ended last week, with Solon City Prosecutor Lon Stolarsky determining Short committed no crime.
The Cleveland Jewish News was the first to report the details contained in the investigation. A Solon schools spokeswoman on Friday said in a statement that the district trusts police to “parse through the investigatory record, conduct a thorough review of the facts and make appropriate judgments about wrongdoing.”
“Erin Short has been forthright with the district and law enforcement investigators throughout the process,” the statement said. “The district continues to have confidence in her ability to lead Solon High School.”
Superintendent Fred Bolden said in an email to staff members and students’ families last week that Short would be returning to her job at Solon High School on March 12.
Short was hired in 2000 as an assistant principal and promoted to principal in 2010, and has no prior complaints against her, the district said.
Bolden placed her on paid leave on Feb. 15, one day after two members of the Solon school board received an email in which someone using the name “Steve McCauley” accused Short of having an inappropriate relationship with a student in 2005 and 2006.
Bolden sent the email to Solon Police Lt. Jamey Hofmann and asked him to open a probe the next day. Bolden told police that he interviewed Short, who admitted to having a relationship in 2006 with a student who graduated the previous year, and that the student had tried to blackmail her after they broke up, the records say.
Police contacted the former student at her home in Geauga County, and she eventually spoke to Hofmann over the phone before agreeing to provide a written statement through an attorney.
The former student acknowledged writing the email under the fake name, which she said she regrets but did because “as we have seen over the last few weeks in her manipulation of the media and threats, I was uncertain as to what would do or say if I made the complaint in my name,” the statement said.
“I apologize for the way I went about this,” she wrote. “However, everything I said in the email is true, and I stand by that.”
She went on to say that she met Short her senior year and saw her as a mentor and that Short paid her special attention. She said Short allowed her to wander the halls freely and frequently pulled her out of class to come to her office where the two would chat, gave her gifts including CDs and wrote letters to her. They began to share personal details and have deep and emotional discussions, the statement said. She also said she could “get away with drinking before virtually any extracurricular school event,” the statement said. The two began going to lunch and dinner together, and Short visited her parents’ home on several occasions, her letter said.
“I was being showered with more attention than I had ever received in my life,” her statement said. “Who would not want a relationship like this? The red flags were there, but I was not ready to see them.”
The statement said the relationship progressed after she graduated from Solon High School into making inappropriate comments and eventually turned physical.
The statement said the two had an argument the following summer at Short’s house, and the former student left in a hurry and forgot a manila envelope filled with letters that Short had written her. She later asked Short for the letters back, and Short told her she had shredded them, the statement said.
The former student said in the statement that she does not hold a grudge or any illwill toward Short, and she is not trying to get money from her or the district. She wrote that she felt like she needed to tell someone about their relationship.
“Sometimes the people who you consider a great educator, a role model, a mentor, and a great person can also do you substantial harm,” the statement said. “I want teachers, students, and parents to know it is OK to say something if you see an adult acting inappropriately. If your gut is telling you something is off, it probably is.”
Short told police that their relationship began in the spring of 2006 and described it as a “consensual, adult relationship.” Short said they mostly saw each other on weekends and holidays when the student was home from college. Short said she broke off their relationship in July 2006, after Short went on a trip to Greece with someone whose name was redacted from the records.
Zukerman provided police with a photograph of an old cellphone displaying a text message that Short said she received a few weeks after the two broke up. The message, which Short said came from the former student’s phone number, read “three grand and we can call this a bad dream try me,” the report said. Short said she did not pay any money.
Zukerman also provided Hofmann with a copy of a 2011 email the student sent to Short where she congratulated Short on her promotion to principal and asked if she could use Short as a reference when she was applying for jobs.