Teacher Convicted of Sex with Student Rejects Plea Deal

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A former teacher already serving time in prison for having sex with a student has rejected a plea bargain deal in Macomb County Tuesday morning.

Earlier this month, an Oakland County judge made an example of the Katherine Ronk, a former Spanish teacher at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights, and sentenced her to six to 15 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to reduced charges of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

She originally had been charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct, including rape, in Oakland County after authorities alleged she initiated the sexual relationship with the student in December 2013.

The relationship continued until January 2014, when the student’s parents learned of it and told school officials. The encounters allegedly took place in the Madison Heights classroom, the victim’s home in Macomb Township, and in a parked car in Sterling Heights.

Ronk, 30, of Birmingham, was subsequently fired.

Related:

• Police: Fired School Teacher Had Sex with Student
• School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex with Student
• Judge Denies Leniency to Teacher Who Had Sex with Student

In Macomb County, Ronk is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each of child sexually abusive activity and selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor.

The deal offered to Ronk Tuesday was a guilty plea to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, both of which are 15-year felonies. The case was adjourned until May 20.

Neither Ronk nor her attorney, James Thomas, spoke with reporters after the hearing.

In the Oakland County case, Circuit Court Judge Nanci Grant exceeded state sentencing guidelines that recommended 51-85 months, saying Ronk is a “very smart” and “intelligent woman” who should have known that sex with a student was wrong.

Grant said she was put off by the volume of letters of support for Ronk that mentioned “nothing about the victim.”

“They were all about you and what you were going through. Poor you. To ignore a crime and a victim and an ongoing involvement in school, outside school, in a car. You did something you shouldn’t have done,” Grant said.