Ex-Houston principal said incident was ‘creepy’
Former Houston High principal Kyle Cherry showed up at a co-worker’s house in the middle of the night last summer in a “creepy” incident that led Germantown police officers answering the call to consider the matter a potential peeping Tom case, according to reports.
No one was arrested in the matter because the residents declined to file a complaint. But the police report indicates Cherry was standing on a ladder outside a 19-year-old
woman’s bedroom window at the residence of Ami Cochran, a teacher at Houston High.
In the follow-up investigation to the July 31, 2017, incident, the former principal was apologetic and stated to Cochran and her daughter that “he made a ‘stupid mistake’ which was caused by an emotional night and drinking alcohol.”
The Cherry report is the latest piece of drama to surface from Houston High — the only high school in the Germantown Municipal School District. Cherry announced his resignation as leader of the school earlier this week. He cited the stress of the position and wanting to spend more time with his family.
In addition to Cherry’s resignation, William Rayburn, a choir teacher at Houston, was suspended earlier this month for inappropriate interaction with students.
The police reports regarding the July 31, 2017 incident say the apologetic Cherry returned to the Cochran residence the following morning, telling the family he put the ladder to the window thinking it was Ami Cochran’s room instead of the daughter’s.
And, in another twist to the episode, Ami Cochran, a teacher in the exceptional students education department, later filed a document amending some of the details in the initial police report, including expressing her relief when Cherry acknowledged it was him at the residence – rather than an unknown intruder – that led the daughter to call police.
“The report is a gross misrepesentation of what actually occurred and was reported to the Germantown Police Department on that night,” Cochran said in the Aug. 24, 2017 communication. “I am requesting the accurate information be added to the report as an addendum.”
In a Thursday email, Ami Cochran emphasized: “There has never been an inappropriate relationship between me and Mr. Cherry.”
Cherry was given a written reprimand by the Germantown Municipal School District for his “inappropriate actions towards a staff member” in regard to last summer’s incident.
“Based on your own admission, you showed a clear lack of judgment in going to a staff member’s residence .... ” the Aug. 25, 2017 letter of reprimand states.
Contacted Thursday about the police report, Cherry acknowledged the incident occurred and police were called, but that an internal investigation by the school district determined the accusations were “unsubstantiated.”
“All I can tell you is GMSD human resources did a thorough investigation and obviously, there’s more than what the police report says,” Cherry said by telephone Thursday morning. Cherry also said he was at the Cochran house that night. “I will not deny (that he was at the house). That is poor judgment, and that’s the unprofessional conduct that was referred to.
“... Again, lack of judgment, poor judgment on my part. I hate it.”
Rayburn’s suspension without pay is in relation to complaints from parents and students “including, but not limited to” inappropriate comments to students, inappropriately touching students and kissing students.
“This allegation is in reference to him kissing students on the forehead after a concert,” said Kate Crowder, district spokeswoman.
Crowder would not comment on the other charges, which she said were a part of the ongoing investigation. The Rayburn investigation and Cherry’s reprimand last summer apparently are not connected.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our students,” Crowder said.
Rayburn was previously suspended for three days without pay for unprofessional conduct in late October after violating the district’s ethics policy on multiple occasions. He’s accused of making unprofessional comments to parents and students.
The details of the July 31 incident of Cherry showing up at the Cochran residence arose after questions regarding his resignation with only weeks left in the school year.
His personnel file contained the reprimand, leading to request for the relevant police report.
“The police report sounds horrible,” Cherry said Thursday, and it makes it look like: ‘Oh my god, He’s a peeping Tom.’ No. There’s a back story, and, again, human resources did their thorough investigation.”
According to the initial police report, officers were sent to a prowler call at the Cochran residence, actually arriving after midnight on Aug. 1. The 19-year-old daughter heard rummaging downstairs at the residence. She went downstairs to check on the noise and found the front door cracked open.
The 19-year-old looked outside, saw a man in khaki shorts and a T-shirt walking on the opposite side of the street. When she shined a light in his direction, the man hid behind a tree. The daughter told Cochran the man behind the tree in the dark looked like Kyle Cherry.
After police arrived, they searched the back yard, finding the ladder against the house, size 12 men’s flip-flops on the ground and a cold but empty can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer inside the back gate.
The family said “no one in the house drinks that brand of beer, nor has that brand ever been brought into the house.”
Ami Cochran told police that she went out to dinner with Cherry about 9 p.m. on July 31, both going home after the Mexican meal.
In the follow-up investigation, the daughter told a detective that when Cherry returned to the house the morning after the police were called, he told the mother and daughter he was the one the 19-year-old heard making noises at the house in the middle of the night.
He put the ladder outside the window, thinking it was to Ami Cochran’s room.
“Before he was about to knock on the window, he stated he thought it would be ‘Creepy,’ so he got off the ladder and went to the front door,” according to the detective’s supplemental report. “Cherry admitted to opening the door and even hearing (the daughter) call downstairs for her mom.”
In her addendum, Ami Cochran said once she realized the person at the house that night was Cherry, “Pressing charges never even crossed my mind.”
She characterized Cherry as “a family friend.”
Asked in a Thursday interview about his connection to Cochran, Cherry said: “Ami is a great teacher and a great person. I know rumors have circulated that there’s something, but there is nothing. “There is nothing and was nothing.” Reporter Linda Moore contributed to this story.