Colony High teacher enters not-guilty plea

PALMER — A Colony High School special-education teacher accused of having sexual intercourse with her student appeared in court Friday at her arraignment on felony sex abuse charges handed up by a Palmer grand jury last week.

Rhonda Gildersleeve, 33, pleaded not guilty to two counts of third-degree sex abuse during the hearing before Palmer Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler. Gildersleeve is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

Gildersleeve, who has worked for the Mat-Su School District for three years, is also accused of pursuing the student and continuing their relationship after a district court magistrate ordered her to stay away from the student.

According to court documents, Gildersleeve continued having sexual relations with the boy until he broke off the liaison. Gildersleeve allegedly pursued the student, threatened his friends, and, in one incident, troopers had to remove her from the boy's friend's home when she refused to leave.

The boy claimed Gildersleeve told him what to do when the troopers first began investigating the allegations, in order to minimize the situation. He said he didn't fully disclose all the facts to investigators about the depth of his involvement with his teacher because he said he didn't want her to get into trouble.

The boy said he and Gildersleeve had sexual relations at least 12 times during December and January. The encounters occurred at Wolf Lake after Gildersleeve picked up the teen-ager in her car, according to charging documents.

On paid leave since the sex-abuse allegations first came to light, Gildersleeve resigned from her position on Feb. 1. Her resignation takes effect in April.

On Feb. 8, Gildersleeve pleaded not guilty to third-degree sexual abuse of a minor and first-degree unlawful contact charges. She was released from jail the following day on $10,000 bail, with the condition she would check into the mental health unit at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

The bail agreement also required a new bail hearing once Gildersleeve was released from the mental health unit.

Gildersleeve's defense attorney, Ann DeArmond, told Cutler the teacher was released from Providence the day before. However, in order to get signed out of the hospital, she needed a place to stay.

DeArmond said Palmer Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat agreed to allow Gildersleeve's neighbor to act as her third-party custodian until a Feb. 26 bail hearing. According to the temporary agreement, Gildersleeve would be on 24-hour sight-and-sound supervision, except when the neighbor was at her job at a market in Palmer.

A trial date was set for April 24.