OUR LETTER SENT TO GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MORE THAN A YEAR LATER THE EVIDENCE SHOULD BE CLEAR

This is a copy of the words in the letter we sent to GA DOE The names and places have been changed.I say the words because I had to retype it all and change all the names. Here we are more than a year later. Now this teacher that was reported for an inappropriate relationship has declared publicly to have adopted a daughter. Our daughter's name has changed to reflect the teacher's last name and a new first name. What conclusions are we to come to as parents? 

 March 22,2021

Dear Sir/Madam:

We are writing to report an inappropriate teacher and student relationship. The relationship between Mrs. Dara Colt, who teaches at DeLaire High School in Running County and our daughter Elizabeth Barre. We have notified both the principal and superintendent but they have been reluctant to take any action against Mrs. Colt.

Our daughter Elizabeth, suffers from severe anxiety and depression,self harm, and is on 2 different medications. She has attempted suicide multiple times. One night last year as we waited in the emergency room for her suicide attempt, she attempted suicide multiple times under supervision.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth was unable to complete high school due to mental illness. We have sought multiple therapists to help her,  and at times she has been defiant. One therapy office had to quit therapy, they claimed she was not cooperative, and found her to be a liability. At another therapist's office, she refused to get out of the car. Even when the dr. and nurse practitioner used telemed to refill her prescription she refused communication with them.

Mrs. Colt was once our daughter's English/Language Arts teacher more than 3 years ago, plus our daughter was in her book club.Elizabeth was very fond of Mrs. Colt. I vaguely recall sending Mrs.Colt  an email before we moved telling her we were moving away and to please say good-bye to our daughter. There was no mention of the relationship continuing once we moved away.

According to our phone records, Mrs. Colt was calling our daughter on a very frequent basis. while she was still a minor, keeping the relationship a secret. We believe Elizabeth may have still been enrolled in school when this relationship was occuring. We are in the process of checking the dates. We can find no reason for this secret relationship.

Last month our daughter claimed she was going to spend the night with a friend. When she didn't return we went to the friend's house to learn our daughter hadn't been there and she hadn't heard from her in almost a week. We came home, call 911, search her room for clues, and search our cell phone records.

We called the number. We are fairly certain it was Dara Colt who answered. She told us that she had a copy of the note that Elizabeth left, she was an adult, and Elizabeth requested we not contact her. My son who made the call told her we would find out who she is and where she is. Her response was  "NO YOU WON'T."

This was scary. We thought our daughter had possibly met a human trafficker online. The police pinged the number to Dara Colt's  home. They made a welfare check and our daughter claimed we were somehow a threat to her

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We later got a piece of mail with Dara Colt's address on it. We were confused. Why would our daughter be with a former teacher from more than 3 years ago? This didn't make any sense to us. so we emailed Mrs. Colt asking if our daughter was with her. Her response was shocking, not at all expected, she played mind games with her email. The response was not at all appropriate

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When we followed up with the police, and another welfare check was made. Our daughter's cell phone hadn't been used since the night she left. We have reached out tole Mrs. Colt to explain the extent of our daughter's mental illness, and she didn't respond.  We have reached out quite a few times, and she ignores us.

Because of Mrs. Colt's secrecy, strange response, and lack of communication we started a facebook page. We are concerned parents and have been seeking answers. Even then, instead of contacting us,to ease our minds and address our concerns, Mrs. Colt still remained silent. 

In order to deflect from her wrongdoings, Mrs. Colt has resorted to slandering us with false allegations. Her friends are posting wild accusations online. Some aof these allegations are but not limited to: we threatened to take our daughter's dog to a high kill shelter, our daughter worked a menial job with the family business, we never taught our daughter how to drive, our daughter didn't hae a license or a learner's permit, we forced hand me down clothes on her and didn't take her shopping for clothes, she fled an abusive home.

We have explained to Mrs. Colt on more than one occassion that we beleive it is in our daughter's best interest that she send her home. We spoke with an attorney today that suggested we file a lawsuit against Mrs. Colt for slander. At this time we do not wish to take such drastic measures. However, we believe Mrs. Colt has acted in a manner that is not trustworthy, unethical and not expected of a teacher. We are asking that she be investigated and repremanded for her wrongdoings. We are including our emails, along with Mrs. Colt's response.