Carl Junction schools address concerns after former teacher arrested

The Carl Junction School District is addressing concerns from parents after a now-former junior high teacher was arrested for stalking a student and for having child porn on his school issued laptops.

Craig Smith was taken into custody last week after an extensive investigation into inappropriate behavior toward a student.

Court documents say Smith more than 600 images of child pornography on two of his school-issued devices.

One week after his arrest, Carl Junction Schools released this statement on Facebook:

“We understand our community has questions about the recent arrest of a former employee of Carl Junction Schools. Most questions have centered around what information the District had and when. This statement is intended to provide clarification about those questions and to foster transparency with our community.

• On August 30, 2024, the District was notified by law enforcement about a report that had been made against the employee for stalking a student who attends the high school. There was no information shared with the District suggesting that stalking was occurring during the school day or at school activities. There was also no mention of anything pertaining to possession of child pornography. Because the report involved a current student, the employee was immediately placed on leave and has not been on school property again to the District’s knowledge.

• Several years prior to the notice received on August 30, 2024, certain classroom practices by the employee were addressed by the administration. Those practices included allowing his son and other students to eat lunch in his office. None of these practices were terminable or criminal, but he was instructed to not allow these activities to occur.

• On October 22, 2024, the District was contacted regarding the status of law enforcement’s stalking investigation. Law enforcement provided a description of some of the text messages the employee had sent to the student. The text messages violated Board policy with respect to maintaining appropriate boundaries in communications with students. There was no mention of anything pertaining to possession of child pornography. The District began the process of seeking the employee’s termination. The employee resigned his position prior a termination hearing occurring.

• In January 2025, the former employee was criminally charged with stalking and possession of child pornography. According to police, the two charges are unrelated, and none of the pornographic images involve students. Prior to this time, the District had no knowledge about possession of child pornography by the former employee. According to law enforcement, the former employee did not search for or download pornographic images using District technology devices. Rather, the images were transferred to a school laptop from an external device.

We recognize that questions arise when a former employee is criminally charged for such offenses, and we share in your concern. The safety and security of our children continues to be our utmost priority. You have our assurances that we will continue to be diligent in assessing our systems, policies and procedures to ensure we have effective security measures in place to protect our children. In the meantime, we will continue to support the individuals impacted by this situation.

Thank you for your trust in us, and we look forward to growing stronger together through this experience.”