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http://www.nbc10.com/news/16115847/detail.html
NORTH WALES, Pa. -- A teacher's aide is under arrest, accused of inappropriate contact with a 16-year-old student at a Montgomery County High School, prosecutors said.

Investigators said there was inappropriate touching during school hours at North Penn High School, and the relationship was "too close" for comfort.Michele E. Zulkowsky, 28, of North Wales, also faces child endangerment charges over the incidents prosecutors called a breach of trust, NBC 10's Deanna Durante reported."As an adult, she is placed in a position of trust. She is the person who is held to a higher standard," said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

Investigators said the 16-year-old was in an English as a Second Language, or ESL, class because he needed a little help in school due to a language barrier.Prosecutors said the charges stem from incidents that occurred from January to April 2008 between Zulkowsky and the 10th-grader, who was in her charge."They were being very sneaky, secretive about it, and even in an environment where people were present they were able to communicate with each other and engage in some of these acts, which were against the law," Ferman said.Those acts, according to court papers, happened inside a classroom. Court documents said Zulkowsky held hands with the teen and gave him pictures.But investigators said the touching escalated from just holding hands to fondling. Court papers said the two would rub each other's hands, legs and thighs.

Prosecutors said that when the student was interviewed he told them Zulkowsky gave him poems, including one on Valentine's Day about secret love.According to the court documents, much of the contact was on school property and other students were in the class when it was happening."It's really hard to imagine that no one could have seen what was happening, but it just shows the nature of their relationship," Ferman said.The 28-year-old wasn't interested in speaking to NBC 10 on Thursday, but police said she spoke to them.In fact, they said she was the one who notified authorities about the relationship."There's clearly a sense that I have that she saw that this was wrong, she saw that it had gone too far, and she wanted to stop it and she needed help stopping it," Ferman said.

According to court document, the teen told police Zulkowsky wanted to plan a summer meeting for the two to have sex."The fact he is 16 and the fact that he is consenting to the acts and his is as emotionally attached to her as she is to him, those are irrelevant facts," Ferman said.A statement from the North Penn School District said police alerted them to the issue, and Zulkowsky would have been suspended with termination to follow had she not resigned first. She had been employed by the district since January 2007.Zulkowsky was arraigned before a district magistrate and released on unsecured bail of $25,000 with a condition of her release being no contact with the alleged victim.A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 8.