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Newly obtained Gwinnett County Public Schools records show Coweta County Commission District 3 candidate Tim Ryan was removed from substitute teaching assignments in 2009 after multiple middle school girls submitted written complaints describing comments and behavior they said made them uncomfortable.
The records, obtained through an open records request, include handwritten student statements, internal personnel notes, disciplinary paperwork, and district correspondence tied to Ryan’s time as a substitute teacher at Summerour Middle School in Norcross.
The documents add another school district to Ryan’s history of documented professional conduct concerns involving female students. Earlier reporting by The Citizen detailed complaints and investigations involving Ryan during his time at Smokey Road Middle School and Madras Middle School in Coweta County.
The Gwinnett file shows students reported concerns to teachers and administrators almost immediately after the alleged incidents occurred in February 2009.
Several of the handwritten statements accused Ryan of making comments students perceived as sexual or inappropriate for a middle school classroom.
One student wrote that Ryan stared at female students while they stood up in class.
“{A Student} started to practice her chears (sic) and Mr. Ryan was looking at her butt,” the student wrote. “Then I stand up and {student} told me he was looking at my. Then I didn’t stand up no more.”
Another student described a similar incident.
“I was looking and {a student} stand up and she was going to get something and Mr. Ryan start to look at her legs and her butt and when he look at her he did . . . like a weird sound,” the student wrote.
A third student described a classroom conversation that allegedly escalated into comments about a female student’s body.
“I called {a student} that she was anorexic. And she called me fat. But I said I was sexxy (sic),” the student wrote. “And Mr. Ryan said that I would dye (sic) to have a girl like that. He said I could sweep that body up in an instant.”
Another student wrote that after reporting a classmate’s insult to Ryan, the substitute teacher responded with a sexualized remark.
“Yesterday, 2/5/09 in Mrs. Vaughn’s class {a student} called me anorexic,” the student wrote. “When I told Mr. Ryan he said, ‘he’s just jealous he can’t hit that!’ & he kept saying that. I got really violated when he told me that.”
The records show school officials acted quickly after the complaints were documented.
A February 6, 2009 personnel action form requested Ryan’s immediate deactivation from substitute teaching assignments for “Inappropriate Conduct.”
Handwritten human resources notes in the file later summarized the findings of the school investigation.
“According to the investigation, Mr. Ryan made students feel uncomfortable,” one note states.
On February 17, 2009, Gwinnett County Public Schools formally notified Ryan that he had been “removed from the Substitute list for Gwinnett Public Schools” and instructed him not to accept substitute assignments “under any circumstances.”
The records also indicate Ryan was permanently barred from returning to Summerour Middle School, where the complaints originated.
Less than two months later, the district restored Ryan to active substitute status district-wide at every school but Summerour, but officials warned him the allegations remained serious.
In an April 2, 2009 letter, Gwinnett officials wrote: “I am concerned about information received that you allegedly made inappropriate comments to students at Summerour Middle School.”
The same letter warned Ryan that any future reports of inappropriate comments or behavior involving students, faculty, or parents would result in removal from the substitute teacher list.
The Gwinnett records predate the conduct concerns previously reported in Coweta County Schools by several years.
Earlier Citizen reporting documented parent complaints, student concerns, internal investigations, and disciplinary actions involving Ryan during his employment in Coweta County schools. Former students and parents described repeated personal comments directed toward female students, alleged boundary violations, and behavior they considered unprofessional in middle school classroom settings.
In other publications Ryan has previously denied wrongdoing and has characterized criticism surrounding his school employment history as politically motivated attacks connected to his county commission campaign.
The Gwinnett documents show a similar pattern many years earlier: student complaints documented by school officials, rapid administrative escalation, and district disciplinary action within days of the reports being filed.
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