10 Former Teachers Accused Of 'Improper Relationships' With New York School Students

10 former teachers at a school in Buffalo, New York, were found to have had "improper relationships with students" for several years, results of a recent investigation revealed Friday.

The investigation was launched by the Nichols School's Board of Trustees more than six months ago following allegations by a former student that a teacher began a sexual relationship with her during her senior year in the early 1990s.

The girl, Elizabeth Russ Mohr said the relationship with her physics teacher, Arthur Budington, began when she was 17 and he was 48.

The 91-page report released by the school revealed that the last case of misconduct took place around 12 years ago.

110 interviews with 76 people were conducted by the investigators from the Washington, D.C., law firm Crowell & Moring. The evidence against four of the 10 teachers was "clear and convincing," and they were identified by name in the report. The names of the other six teachers were not revealed.

Mohr told Buffalo News about her relationship: "It was inappropriate, but using that word to describe it falls short for me. We’re talking about an immature teenage girl having a crush and an affair with her 48-year-old teacher, an educator who is supposed to set a good example for his students at a school that says it places character on a very high level."

She also said the school was aware of the relationship but did not do anything about it: "This isn’t just about one wayward 17-year-old having an affair with her teacher. It’s not just about me. It is about power, and institutions, and the behavior of teachers and the behavior of administrators."

"What makes me the most angry about this whole thing is that I believe administrators were aware of what was happening, and they did nothing. They didn’t want the problem or the scandal to become public. Nichols has to do better. You cannot live in today’s world and choose not to talk about these things," Mohr said.

Budington also talked to Buffalo News and said he thoroughly regretted his actions and added the guilt over the relationship he had with Mohr bothered him for a long time.

"I was the adult. Liza was 17. What I did was wrong for all the obvious reasons … but I have never been a predator," an emotional Budington told Buffalo News. “I was a divorced teacher, very shy with women, who fell in love with a beautiful young student. Liza was the most brilliant, amazing person I have ever known, and I will always love her. I consider her a friend to this day.” Their relationship lasted for four years, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, CBS News quoted the chairman of the school’s Board of Trustees, Jeff Meyer, saying:

"From the outset of this investigation, motivated by two women with the courage to come forward with their stories, we aimed to do what was right through full disclosure of past misconduct. We achieved those goals through national best practices, and we are confident this was the proper course to take. Only through a transparent, independent process such as this can we come to terms with past misconduct at the school and move Nichols forward into the future."

The school in its statement apologized to former students who were victims of the sexual abuse. The school also said no current employees were accused of inappropriate behavior. "The investigation found misconduct and lapses of oversight, but determined these were not 'systemic' over the period of the report," it said.