ODESSA - Just one day after he resigned, a former Permian high school teacher took his own life.
That's after allegations surfaced that he was having an inappropriate relationship with a student.
ECISD Superintendent Thomas Crowe spoke about the situation on Thursday.
It started out as a Crimestoppers tip but ended with 47-year-old Mark Lampman dead and the community in disbelief.
"Returning to normal is going to be difficult but we want it to be a healing process, not a hurting process," Crowe said.
On Wednesday afternoon, oilfield workers found Lampman's body near FM 1936 and Hwy. 158 in Ector County.
The sheriff's office said he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The former government teacher and golf coach resigned the day before after allegations surfaced of an inappropriate relationship with a student.
"He was a member of our families as well," Crowe said."Our heart goes out to his wife and children as it does to everyone that's involved in this tragedy."
Counselors were on campus Thursday for grieving students and staff. Crowe said comments on social media made this situation even more emotional.
"We need that to stop because it's not healing, it's hurting," he said.
The district isn't making any comment about the student involved other than they were not in school on Thursday.
"One of the things we have to look out for is the student's safety and to ensure that we provide that student all the help that we can as they move through this process as well," Crowe said.
Lampman was the fourth Permian teacher within a year to be investigated. Crowe said the district is looking into possible changes in teacher training on this issue.
"We can never cross that line because parents entrust their children to us," he said. "Obviously we're going to review that and emphasize it as well as look at do we need to be doing more."
He feels students should be addressed as well.
"There are inappropriate things, inappropriate relationships and they need to be aware if an adult is crossing that line, that they have a place to go to report that," Crowe said.
For now, Crowe said the focus is helping students finish a successful school year while their investigation into the alleged relationship continues.
"We're going to do it as thorough as we can," he said. "We need to check out all the facts and make sure we have facts and not conjecture."
