(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A southern Iowa school teacher who lost her job after giving a female student a condom for the girl’s protection has been denied unemployment benefits. According to state records, Cheyenne Wilson was hired as a high school science teacher by the Clarke Community School District in August 2024. According to testimony given at a state hearing in March, four girls were in Wilson’s classroom on Nov. 14, 2024, for an after-school study session. The students were seated approximately 4 feet away from Wilson while discussing a text conversation one of the students was having with a boy. One of the students asked Wilson is she knew the definition of an acronym used to describe a particular sex act, and Wilson responded that she did, after which the student stated her own definition of the term. The conversation then shifted to another sex act, with one student indicating she was nervous about performing the act and using her teeth. Wilson allegedly responded, “Don’t use your teeth, then.”

When it became clear to Wilson that the student was planning to have sex with a boy, she gave the student a condom from her desk for the girl’s protection. Four days later, a complaint was filed with the school district and the principal, Joe Blazevich, began an investigation, with Wilson placed on administrative leave. The district later sent a letter to Wilson, saying her behavior had called into question her fitness for duty and her ability to serve as an effective role model for students and employees of the district. The letter went on to state that Wilson was not to speak to students and staff or be on school district premises or attend any district activities during the investigation. On Nov. 20, 2024, Blazevich and Superintendent Kurt DeVore held a meeting with Wilson, during which she allegedly confirmed what had transpired during the Nov. 14 incident.

DeVore told Wilson she had the option to resign and that if she refused there would be an additional “district level” investigation of her conduct. Wilson opted to resign. Wilson was initially awarded unemployment benefits after a fact-finding interview, but the school district appealed that decision, leading to a March 28 hearing before Administrative Law Judge Emily Drenkow Carr. At the hearing, Blazevich testified that Wilson should have redirected the students’ conversation to a more appropriate subject matter and noted that Wilson was not a sex educator and was not tasked with addressing such issues with students.

In finding that Wilson was not entitled to unemployment benefits, Carr stated the evidence indicated Wilson’s resignation was not forced and that she was given the option of remaining employed while undergoing a district-level investigation that might involve the school board. “While Ms. Wilson’s decision to resign may have been for good personal reasons, it was not with good cause attributable to the employer,” Carr ruled.