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Band director resigns after arrest: Principal issues letter informing parents
By Kelley Chambers, kchambers@starlocalnews.com, @KelleyChambers7 on Twitter
A McKinney middle school band director resigned after being arrested last month for allegedly sending explicit videos and pictures of himself to a high school student in 2007.
Plano police arrested Marcus Antoine Hunley, assistant band director at McKinney ISD's Evans Middle School, on Jan. 29. Police say Hunley had an online relationship with a 16-year-old student from Plano ISD's R.C. Clark High School, when Hunley worked as a band instructor at the school.
Evans Middle School Principal Todd Young sent a letter to parents of children in the school's band this week explaining Hunley's resignation. In the letter, Young assured parents the district "performs exhaustive national and state background and reference checks on all of its employees," adding that McKinney ISD had not been aware of any cause for concern regarding Hunley because the allegations weren't made public prior to his hiring.
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| Marcus Hunley |
McKinney ISD spokesman Cody Cunningham confirmed Hunley resigned the day of his arrest. Cunningham said the reason for the delay in sharing this information openly with students and parents at Evans was twofold.
"The minute it came to light then he was no longer employed there. While it all happened so quickly, we initially announced that he resigned for personal reasons," he said. "We also worked closely with the Plano Police Department through the investigation, and they needed some time to work through some details."
According to police, the former Clark student alleges that Hunley told her he wanted to have a relationship with her. During the summer of 2007, Hunley began emailing her, sending explicit photos and stream live video of himself engaging in sexual acts.
Hunley was charged with indecency with a child-exposure and has been released on $7,500 bond.
Plano PD spokesman David Tilley said there is no evidence that there are any other victims but encouraged any other students who may have been victims to report any other incidents.
"When we got the report and started the investigation, clearly we don't want to make any accusations without something substantial to know potentially what happened," he said. "Once we were able to do the investigation and know that actually an isolated incident had taken place, we made contact with the district."
Cunningham said there have been no concerns or complaints brought forth from parents regarding Hunley since the letter went out, but the district has provided resources as a precautionary measure. In addition to the traditional pre-hire background checks, McKinney ISD also began running annual checks for all of its employees about five years ago, a measure Cunningham said goes "above and beyond" what many districts do.
"I think this is a little bit of a different situation in that you want to provide the police with ample time to complete their investigation," he said. "That was certainly something that we took into consideration."
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