Kennewick teacher resigns after arrest for sexting with student

A Kennewick elementary school teacher has submitted his resignation, one week after his arrest for allegedly sexting with a teen girl in Walla Walla County.

Edwin “Eddie” Bush, 29, worked as a technology teacher at Hawthorne Elementary School for the 2016-17 school year. The year prior he was a substitute teacher in the Kennewick School District.

He was placed on administrative leave July 27 when district officials learned of the investigation and his arrest.

Bush’s resignation must be approved by the school board, which next meets Aug. 16, according to district spokeswoman Robyn Chastain.

In the meantime, Bush is scheduled to appear Monday in Walla Walla County Superior Court for arraignment.

He is charged with one count each of first- and second-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. The two child pornography counts are felonies, while the communicating is a gross misdemeanor.

Prosecutors allege the Kennewick man – who also is a wrestling coach in the Kiona-Benton City School District – befriended a student at a Walla Walla County high school and exchanged hundreds of “sexually charged” Facebook messages with the girl over two months.

Investigators, who were tipped off to the relationship, found that Bush and the girl allegedly swapped nude pictures with each other.