Teacher won’t be prosecuted

Kootenai County prosecutors are not charging a private school teacher accused of playing a strip poker-like card game with young boys during a school camp trip – because they can’t find a state statute under which to charge him.

“This conduct, although alarming, does not seem to fit an Idaho crime,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes wrote in an office report.

But the school principal who reported the allegation to police has been issued a citation – for not acting fast enough.

Coeur d’Alene police ticketed Lake City Junior Academy Principal Twila Brown on Tuesday after a parent complained Brown didn’t notify parents or police until nearly a week after she heard that teacher Andy Armstrong, 42, engaged five students in fifth and sixth grades in a game of “Strip Dirty Hearts.”

The principal was cited under a provision of the Child Protective Act, which requires school officials and others to report suspected child abuse or neglect within 24 hours.

Brown did not return a call seeking comment Thursday. Armstrong, who has since been fired from his teaching job, could not be reached.

The Christian school and Camp MiVoden, where the alleged incident occurred, are operated by the Upper Columbia Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The school had rented the camp facility for the outing; the staff of Camp MiVoden was not supervising.

Superintendent of Schools Keith D. Waters issued a written statement, but declined to answer questions.

“We deeply regret the circumstances leading up to the current situation,” the statement said. “Principal Brown has always been a trusted and capable leader, and we have every confidence that any investigation will bear this out.”