The investigation is continuing into allegations that a teacher at Bainbridge High School had inappropriate conduct with a student.

No additional details of those claims, however, have been made public since Bainbridge High and district officials announced the allegations Feb. 25.

School and district officials alerted parents and the community about the claim of inappropriate conduct in emails nearly a week ago, but authorities have remained tight-lipped since.

Bainbridge High officials made an email announcement the evening of Feb. 25 that a teacher had been suspended because of inappropriate conduct with a student. Officials did not identify the teacher or the student, their genders or ages, or provide any details on how long ago the alleged inappropriate conduct occurred, or if the complaint was about a single incident or a pattern of behavior.

School officials said BHS administrators became aware of the claims late in the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 24, and contacted Bainbridge police the next morning.

The unidentified teacher has been suspended with pay.

On Tuesday, district officials rejected a public records request by the Review for a copy of the suspension letter that was given to the Bainbridge High teacher at the center of the allegations.

District spokeswoman Galen Crawford, in an email to the Review, said the district did not have to release the letter because it included “investigative, law enforcement and crime victims” information that could be withheld under state law.

“The Bainbridge Island Police Department has informed us releasing information contained in such a letter could be detrimental to their investigation,” Crawford wrote.

Crawford also noted the letter could be released when the investigation was finished.

District Superintendent Faith Chapel said the district sought legal advice from its legal counsel, the Seattle law firm of Vandeberg Johnson & Gandara, and attorney Daniel Montopoli recommended that the letter be withheld.

Bainbridge Police Chief Matthew Hamner said the police department was contacted earlier this week about the suspension letter by the school district and the newspaper’s request, which was made last week when the school announced the allegations against the teacher.

Hamner initially said he did not read the suspension letter from the school district, but was told by two detectives that the content could impact the investigation.

He said he later read the letter and agreed with that assessment.

“It would definitely make the investigation more difficult and challenging because of the information in the letter,” Hamner said.

Hamner also said more information on the allegations is not expected soon, and the investigation is ongoing.

“It’s going to take some time,” Hamner said. “It could be up to a week, a week and a half. There’s a lot of investigation that has to go on.”

“We don’t want to rush to judgement. We want to make sure we are methodical and thorough and that we’re not drawing conclusions that are not based on facts and law,” he added.

“We are going to great lengths to make sure we can talk to as many people as we can who can shed light on the situation,” he said.