Teacher's sex case continued to December

A former Rocky Mount High School teacher indicted on charges of having sex with a student will appear before a Nash County court judge again in December after her case was continued Wednesday.

Kelly Bartz, 39, waited hours through other scheduled hearings, and joined her court-appointed attorney, Rick Hamlett, as he asked the judge for a continuance. Hamlett was assigned the case in September. The continuance postpones the next court proceeding until Dec. 15.

Bartz was indicted by a Nash County grand jury in August for sexual activity with a student between the age of 14 and 27 by a teacher. The student involved in the charge is above the legal age of consent, but age doesn’t matter in the statute that Bartz allegedly violated.

The charge is based on whether or not a teacher and student engage in a sexual act at any time during or after the two were present together in school where the adult is employed and the student is enrolled. The felony carries a sentence of anywhere from eight months to 44 months in jail.

Bartz declined to comment for this story.

Bartz resigned on June 30 from her position as an English teacher at the high school.

She had worked in the district since October 1997.

During Bartz’s first court appearance in September, she filed papers for a court appointed attorney, and Hamlett was assigned to handle her case.

As a matter of policy, the Telegram does not publish the names of victims of sexual crimes.