Longtime high school teacher dismissed

A 60-year-old English teacher at Summerville High School was fired after school security officers found him embracing a former student in a parked car on school grounds.

James Alan Carter of Moncks Corner and an 18-year-old woman were found Friday in a vehicle parked near the school cafeteria, according to a Summerville police incident report.

Parents were notified of the personnel change Wednesday by the school's auto-dialer system. The announcement said that Carter, who taught honors and advanced placement English classes, had been dismissed and informed parents of who would be teaching his classes.

Pat Raynor, public information officer for the Dorchester District 2, confirmed Thursday that Carter was no longer employed with the school district. She declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding his dismissal, saying that it was a personnel matter.

According to the incident report filed Thursday with the Summerville Police Department, a school bus driver notified school security officers about 11 a.m. Friday about a suspicious vehicle near the entrance of the cafeteria parking lot.

When security officers approached the vehicle, they found Carter and an 18-year-old woman "embracing each other," according to the report. The two were described as "consenting adults."

Security officers determined that the woman was not a student or an employee, so she was told to refrain from coming onto school property without checking in at the office, the report said.

Roger Edwards, the school principal, also confirmed that Carter had been dismissed. He also declined to discuss the reasons for Carter's dismissal. He said he thought Carter had been a teacher at the school for 20-22 years.

While Edwards said he could not say why Carter was dismissed because it was a personnel issue, he did offer a clue. "We expect our teachers to be teaching during school hours," he said.

Carter's abrupt dismissal sparked creation of a Facebook page, "We Love Mr Carter," in which students share their fondness for the teacher and their confusion over why he was dismissed. The page, which was created Tuesday, had more than 285 members Thursday night.

When The Post and Courier called the number listed in the report for the woman, her father answered. He said he was unaware of the incident. He also said his daughter had graduated from Summerville High in 2009 and was a freshman at Trident Technical College.

A message left on Carter's answering service was not returned.

Editor's note: Earlier published versions of this story contained an error with regard to what school security officers saw taking place between the teacher and former student. The Post and Courier regrets the error.