The Elizabethton Star published an article on Thursday, April 21, stating a T.A. Dugger school counselor had resigned following investigation regarding inappropriate physical contact with another Elizabethton City Schools employee. The statement in the first sentence of the story, attributed to Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour, was in part erroneous, as Gardenhour did not identify the complainant or the alleged offender in the situation.
Gardenhour’s statement was: “We fully investigated a report of inappropriate physical contact with another employee, and based on that, the teacher involved resigned.” In attempt to clarify during the editing process, a phrase was added stating the inappropriate contact was “by the counselor,” which was not part of the statement by Dr. Gardenhour. The STAR regrets any damage done to the reputations of the persons involved and any confusion this may have caused affected parties.