North Texas teacher arrested for inappropriate relationship with minor at previous district, officials say

RICHARDSON, Texas — A teacher in the Richardson school district was arrested last week on a charge of an inappropriate relationship with a minor, district officials confirmed to WFAA.

Richardson school officials said art teacher Jason Delezen was arrested by Texarkana police for an incident related to his time working in Texarkana in 2019. 

Richardson officials said Delezen’s arrest was not related to Richardson High School or any Richardson student.

“RHS and RISD learned of the Texarkana PD investigation on Tuesday afternoon and Mr. Delezen was immediately placed on leave by RISD and removed from RHS pending formal next steps,” district officials told WFAA in a statement. “This news is certainly troubling and disappointing, and we are cooperating with the investigation to the fullest extent possible.”

Texarkana ISD officials told WFAA that Delezen was an art teacher in TISD from August 2016 to June 2019. 

“During his time at TISD, there were no reported incidents. TISD Police Department is investigating the alleged incident,” TISD officials told WFAA. “Student safety is our number priority and we encourage all students to report concerns they have to a trusted adult.”