What's Going On Down In Beaumont, Texas?

Filed from "Owls Nest" near Tamassee, South Carolina.
Today's Scandal In Education is all about 27-year-old Ferguson Parker, former band director of Ozen High School in Beaumont, Texas, who was fired for having an improper relationship with one of his 17- year-old students.

According to the Beaumont Enterprise, the student's mother caught the partially nude Parker hiding in her daughter's bedroom closet. The indigent mother then called the police, who took Parker into custody. The cops indicated that Parker was wearing some sort of underwear and his socks. No mention is made of what, if anything, the 17-year-old female was wearing.

The disgraced ex-band director claims that, "Nothing happened," with the student.

Parker has been charged with a felony. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for up to 20 years and pay a $10,000 fine.

As we reported back in October, the principal of Beaumont's other high school, Pathways Learning Center, made headlines when he authorized the showing of Roger Moore's Fahrenheit 911 to a class without any parental notification.

Is it something in the water? Or is this simply the way things are done down in the Lone Star State?