Despite conviction, teacher committed to program

Former teacher Janet Botton-Klatt says there's no one better to try to combat an issue than one who has been personally involved in it.

In her case, it's inappropriate teacher-student relations.

On July 5, months after she was convicted of indecent liberties with a male student, Klatt formed an organization named Teachers for Change, whose mission is to inform educators, students and parents on how to identify, prevent and fight those relationships in schools. Ten other teachers have joined her, she says, on working "for months to put together something that is incredible."

When her program was finalized two weeks ago, she extended her services to about 10 counties in the state, including Brunswick County, that had experienced problems of that sort. That's when Klatt, who had been ridden with negative publicity after initially being charged with having sex with the 16-year-old student, landed back in the spotlight.

The Star-News got word that the Brunswick schools' human resources director, Terry Chestnutt, had met with Klatt in Rockingham to talk about her organization's program and ran an article Tuesday on Klatt's background and what she was offering the school district. Chestnutt told the newspaper Monday that he was about to bring in Klatt to repeat her presentation to school officials, who would then decide whether to take on her organization's services. He wasn't aware of her criminal record.

On Tuesday, schools Superintendent Katie McGee issued a statement assuring she would never recommend hiring someone of Klatt's background as a trainer.

Other news outlets then picked up on the story and called to interview Klatt.

Klatt said Wednesday that her organization would actually provide, free of charge, comprehensive materials on sexual harassment laws, policies and prevention methods, and that it would then recommend another company to implement them and train the school system's employees. Her organization, based in Charlotte, now plans to offer its research and development program to counties in South Carolina, Florida and Texas, she said.

"This to me is so important, I will not let go," Klatt said in a phone interview Wednesday, emphasizing negative publicity would not deter her.

She would not discuss the details of her offense, although she said it has had catastrophic consequences on her life.

"I was looking forward to being a teacher and school administrator all my life, to affect as many lives as I could," Klatt said. "But now I can't teach, ever again."

Klatt, who is 45 and has two young children, is facing other restrictions, she said. As a convicted felon, she cannot vote for the next five years or travel outside the state during her 30-month probation.

Her children and husband have to live with the fact she's a convicted felon. They have stood by her through her ordeal, and she said her son helped convince her to take an Alford plea, where a defendant doesn't directly admit to guilt but recognizes there's likely enough evidence for a conviction by jury.

"I stood to go to jail, to lose my family," Klatt said. "But we have emerged as a much stronger family, who understands what pain is."

After she entered the plea in both Wake and Cabarrus counties, where she was arrested and charged last year, her charges were reduced to the lesser felony of indecent liberties with a student. She was spared a six- to eight-month jail sentence and put on probation instead.

"We will be treated as criminals for the rest of our lives because of the law," Klatt said of teachers who, like her, have been convicted of inappropriate relations with students.

Klatt was a first-year teacher at the private Cannon School in Concord when the scandal broke in spring 2006. Prior to that, the Zimbabwe-born Klatt had gone to college for a teaching degree in the U.S., where she has lived for more than two decades

Klatt lost her job at the school and her reputation, but she said she doesn't keep her background from people who ask her. She said her purpose in life is to try to keep other people from going through what she and her family did.

"When I look in the mirror, I see a pair of very tired, very pained eyes," she said. "And I've never been so proud of myself."

Ana Ribeiro: 343-2327

ana.ribeiro@starnewsonline.com