Teacher receives probation for having sex with pupil

Tom Gardner

Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001 | 6:14 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A former teacher at Sparks High School who admitted she had a sexual relationship with a male pupil was sentenced Wednesday to up to 24 months' probation.

Diane Flanary, 31, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful sexual conduct by a school official with a minor as a result of the liaison with the 17-year-old. She could have received five years in prison.

The youth is now 18 and Washoe District Judge Jim Hardesty did not prohibit the two from seeing each other since he is an adult. The teenager spoke briefly to urge the judge not to deny future contact.

"I know whatever happens has to happen," Tyler Crowley said from the stand. "I am not in favor of this prosecution."

He added that he hoped the judge would let him and Flanary "remain friends."

Neither the prosecution nor the Department of Parole and Probation recommended imprisonment for Flanary.

The English teacher resigned in March after police began investigating reports she had a five-month affair with the pupil.

She had a baby in January she initially thought resulted from the relationship but DNA tests showed the father was Flanary's estranged husband. The little girl died this summer of heart problems.

"She has had a horrible loss and she's still grieving over that loss," her attorney, Scott Freeman, told the judge.

The defendant did not speak except to respond with a yes or a no to questions.

Hardesty said Flanary was a highly regarded teacher who had helped 1,000 or more pupils in their educational and emotional development and was doing that with Crowley when the two of them - both enduring crises in their personal lives - became sexually involved.

"Sometimes things go awry and that happened in this case," Hardesty said.

He added that some might question whether a crime had occurred, particularly a felony, but "it is a crime and our Legislature has made it so."

He suspended a 30-month prison term for "indefinite probation not to exceed 24 months."

Hardesty also ordered Flanary to spend at least 100 hours of community service talking to teachers.

"You should tell your former colleagues about this incident and how it affected you," he said.