Former SC teacher who let students sit on his lap loses state license

The S.C. State Board of Education has permanently revoked the license of a former Coosa Elementary School teacher who had allowed female students to sit on his lap during class.

James Clayton Olsen resigned his fifth-grade teaching position last June following an investigation into the allegations, according to the board’s order of revocation. He was stripped of his educator’s license on Feb. 14.

Olsen had 14 years of teaching experience, all at Beaufort County schools since his 2002 hiring.

Olsen had received a verbal warning from Coosa’s principal in December 2015, the order said, after both the principal and a fellow teacher observed a female student sitting on Olsen’s lap during class. The warning included “clear direction” to cease any such practice.

Five months later, though, Olsen again was reported after a teacher observed a female student sitting on his lap during class. Olsen initially denied the charges to investigators but later admitted the denial was false.

If school officials believed any child to be in danger, district spokesman Jim Foster said, that child’s parents would have been notified. Beyond that, personnel matters are “handled internally and not discussed in public.”

During the investigation, the order said, Olsen also retracted statements he had made about his military history. He had stated in an interview that he had killed people during his time in the service, but he admitted to investigators that he has “never been in combat, (was) always in (the) wrong unit or base.”

Olsen’s file also included a letter of reprimand for a verbal altercation with another teacher in March 2015, which noted it was the second such occurrence that school year.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 8:28 AM with the headline "Former SC teacher who let students sit on his lap loses state license."