The Graham High School band director, who was suspended without pay by the school system last week, has now been charged with taking indecent liberties with a student.
According to a release from the Graham police department, Solomon Reynolds has been arrested in Greensboro and charged with taking indecent liberties with a 17-year-old student.
Under North Carolina law, the charge is a felony; if convicted, Reynolds could face up to 24 months in prison.
The arrested stems from a December 2 report to Graham’s police department from the school system’s human resource office concerning a reported intimate relationship between Reynolds and a “former student,” according to the police department.
The Graham police department’s investigation launched on that date ultimately concluded that Reynolds and a 17-year-old female juvenile student were “engaged in an intimate relationship that may have originated in the spring of 2021. At that time,” the release says, “the juvenile was a student at Graham High School.”
An arrest warrant was issued on Friday, December 10, charging him with taking indecent liberties with a student. He was arrested later that evening at his residence in Greensboro by the Greensboro police department; he was issued a $2,500 bond at the Guilford County magistrate’s office, according to the Graham police release.
Based on information provided by the school system last week in response to a public records request from The Alamance News, Solomon C. Reynolds, 24, is a music/math teacher at the school.
According to the school system’s response to the public records request, he was originally suspended on December 2 (the date the matter was turned over to Graham police, as it turns out) with pay; however, his suspension status was changed to without pay, effective Wednesday, December 8, according to the information provided by the school system.
Reynolds was originally hired on August 11, 2020 under a one year renewable certified contract. His original salary was $39,600; he received a step increase on July 1, 2021, according to the school system, bringing his salary to $40,700.
The newspaper was first notified of irregularities associated with Reynolds when the Graham High School band was suddenly pulled from participation in Christmas parades, in Mebane (Friday night, December 3) and Graham (Saturday, December 4).
Perhaps ironically, the high school had tweeted a congratulations to Reynolds in October as the high school’s “Red Devil of the Month,” the equivalent of teacher of the month. According to the tweet from the school, “He has been a tremendous asset to our team, and his band tears it up on the football field and every other chance they get! Way to go Mr. Reynolds!”
See earlier coverage of Reynolds’ suspension, first paid and subsequently unpaid: https://alamancenews.com/graham-high-school-band-director-suspended/
