Cedar Hill art teacher resigns in wake of plot

by Brian Allen of TODAY Newspapers

Former Cedar Hill High School art teacher Barbara Lee has resigned amid allegations that she tried to coerce a student to beat up her 19-year-old daughter's 31-year-old boyfriend.

Former Cedar Hill High School art teacher Barbara Lee has resigned amid allegations that she tried to coerce a student to beat up her 19-year-old daughter's 31-year-old boyfriend.

David LaBrec, counsel for the Cedar Hill School District, said school officials found out about the alleged plot last week.

“A student came and said that the teacher had asked him to engage and to harm the daughter's boyfriend,” he said. “The good news of this story is that the pieces were in place and everything that was supposed to happen happened.”

He said it was a somewhat chaotic scene as reporters descended on Cedar Hill High School.

But he understands all the publicity due to the television movie nature of the case.

The bizarre would-be assault plot made national as well as local headlines due to its unusual nature.

The school district police department investigated the case, which is now in the hands of the Dallas County district attorney's office.

From there the DA's office will decide if there is enough evidence against Lee to go to a grand jury.

If it does, the media frenzy surrounding Lee and the situation may only just be beginning.

Lee has resigned her position with the school district.

“With the boyfriend apparently being 31 and the daughter being 19, any parent is not going to like that,” LaBrec said. “The nice thing is that this wasn't a situation like Columbine or the situation in Virginia. We're looking at this before anyone was hurt.

Assuming all the facts came out, this was reported and the student did exactly what should have been done.”