MORTON — Word gets around fast when something unfortunate happens in a small town.

    So when a Morton Junior-Senior High School teacher was jailed on assault charges last month for allegedly inappropriately touching four of his students in 2008, students said everyone knew.

    Those close to the incident have varied opinions about 55-year-old Michael R. “Mick” Moulton and his teaching ability, after he pleaded guilty to four counts of assault on four female victims by way of Alford plea. He has finished his 20-day jail sentence but does not admit guilt.

    “For years and years he’s been touching girls, rubbing them and making them stay after school,” said Kelsey Evans, a Morton High School senior.

    She said most students understood the allegations when Moulton was put on administrative leave following one student’s complaints that he had rubbed her and her friends’ shoulders repeatedly in 2008, despite demands to stop.

    Morton Superintendent Tom Manke measured his response when he said it’s still unclear whether the Junior High School history teacher will keep his job. Manke did say, however, that two faculty members were told “you are the teachers in his classes this year.”

    Added Manke, “It’s important to go through the whole process and legal procedure. It’s a very delicate situation and there’s nothing for sure.”

    The final decision on Moulton’s employment status will rest on the superintendent’s shoulders, Manke said. Still, that decision will take some time, he said.

    Moulton refused to comment Monday, but his son Jeff said he wanted to clear up misinterpretations about his father.

    Moulton put his heart and soul into the community for an upwards of 20 years, Jeff said, and the family has faced hardship since the court case surfaced.

    “My dad is not a pervert — he’s a very upstanding citizen,” Jeff said.

    He added that comments made on the last story on chronline.com regarding his father were misleading and in poor taste.

    “Maybe the family’s a little strange, we don’t talk much, but we’re good people,” he said.

    Moulton was originally charged when officers talked to four different girls at the school, who all said he’d been rubbing and massaging their shoulders in class in 2008. More than a dozen other students have filed complaint statements against him dating back to 1997, and two former superintendents have reprimanded him for similar accusations, according to court documents.

    One of those victims’ guardians, who wished to be unnamed because “it’s a small town,” said Moulton wasn’t necessarily bad at his job.

    “He is an awesome teacher, I don’t think this stuff was sexual in nature,” the guardian said. “It’s gone on for a number of years and it’s sad it’s coming out this way.”

    Also a former school employee, the guardian said girls complained about Moulton and refused to go back to his class.

    “Sure I’m mad,” the guardian said. “Once (one victim) told him not to do it anymore, that got me.”

    Andy Campbell: (360) 807-8208