UPDATE: Charges laid against man employed by Holy Family Family school division

UPDATE: The Weyburn Police Service said the individual charged was a Weyburn man. They said the charges he's facing are sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, and sexual assault against a female youth.

Tuesday morning, Discover Weyburn spoke with Gwen Keith, Director of Education with the Holy Family School Division, in regards to inappropriate communications alerted to the Weyburn Police Service last week by concerned parents. 

According to the police, the inappropriate communications via social media occurred between a child and an adult employed by a local school division. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Gwen Keith confirmed that the local school division in question is the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division.

Keith said that she "was not prepared to go into detail about whether or not the employee is still employed by the school division."

When asked to confirm whether the school in question is located in Weyburn or Estevan, Keith said, "I'm not going to limit the parameters of it."

When asked to comment on the circumstances surrounding the incident and investigation, Keith said, "I say this is obviously a personnel matter."

"We are doing an investigation with the appropriate authorities and I can assure you all safety matters and measures have been put in place for everybody concerned. So there's a number of different authorities that can be involved in this and are."

"But no, I'm not divulging any further information on the case at this point."

Keith spoke about preventative steps the Holy Family School Division is taking going forward.

"Well, given that we're dealing with communications, obviously, cyber communications and awareness is an important piece. We do a significant amount of work in this area already, but it doesn't hurt to be providing further reminders to both parents and also to students as well. So, that's certainly an area for you know, some further refinement." 

"Well, I think again we have certainly an Educational Technology area that has given all kinds of advice to parents and also to staff. You know, around monitoring what children are doing and you know, changing passwords and also explaining really the implications of what can happen to you if you are involved in some of these communications. So, it's a proactive set of measures."

Keith said that cyber communications is not a new area for them.

"Obviously, technology and safety with it is a very key part of what we've been doing for a long time, both in policy and in procedures, and even the awareness that students have in terms of their responsibility in using technology."

The Weyburn Police Service said the adult is facing three charges. They did not identify the person. Police did say the accused was released on numerous conditions and would appear in court at a later date.