LAYTON -- News about a 62-year-old Layton High School teacher's marriage to an 18-year-old is rippling through the student body, and emotions are ranging from surprise to anger to fear.
Joseph K. Everton Jr. was placed on paid administrative leave last week from his job as choral director at the high school pending the outcome of school district and police investigations. Everton married Maria Ann Henzi on Sept. 25, in Clark County, Nev., just three months after she graduated from Layton High and two months after she turned 18.
Renae Allen, a senior at the school, said she believes Everton's actions -- whether sexual or not -- will give license to predators looking for relationships with youths.
"What is going to stop anybody else from doing it?" Allen asked. "It gives people who are bad the idea that they can do it, too. If he gets away with it, others will think they can do whatever they want just because of that."
Nashleigh Gittins, 16, and Tyler Smith, 18, said they are not buying into the story that the couple did not have a romantic relationship until just three months ago.
"I think they did have a relationship when she was a student, for sure," Smith said. "She just has turned 18."
"Getting married just doesn't happen all of a sudden, out of nowhere," Gittins said.
A Layton High senior, Katie Lloyd, a chorus student in Everton's class since her sophomore year, said she recalls students teasing Everton last year because he was unmarried and "old and ugly." Lloyd said the entire chorus was surprised when assistant principal Jonathan Gochberg introduced a substitute chorus teacher on Monday and told the class about Everton's situation.
"We used to tease Mr. Everton that he was never going to get married. He told us last year that he had a hot girlfriend," said the 17-year-old Lloyd. "This year, on the first two days of school, he told us he was engaged to his girlfriend. People are freaking out because they think he's had affairs with other students."
Jon Butterfield, a senior at Layton High who knows Henzi and has visited her parents' house, said he was surprised to find out that Henzi was the woman Everton had married. However, Butterfield said the marriage is no one's business but the couple's.
"If she is happy about it, then it is OK," Butterfield said.
Erin Schaap, 17, agreed with Butterfield, except to say Henzi's parents have a right to get involved because the older man began dating their daughter while she was just 17 years old.
"I think it's too late now for them to try to get involved," Schaap said.
Adam Phillips, who graduated in June, said he was one of Everton's students and liked Everton as a teacher and personally. However, Phillips said, he thinks Everton's actions are "morally wrong."
"I think Mr. Everton needs to apologize to her parents," Phillips said.
On Thursday, contacted at his Layton residence, Everton said, "We can't make any comments. That is just where we are right now."
Anna Henzi, Maria Henzi's mother, declined to comment on Wednesday.
Lt. Quinn Moyes said a police investigation into the matter is expected to take longer than anticipated because people continue to stream into the Layton Police Department with information.
"Dating is not a crime," Moyes said. "We want to know if there was a sexual relationship before she turned 18."
Moyes said the school district has more latitude in their investigation into whether school district policy governing teacher-student relationships was breached while Henzi was Everton's choral student.
Chris Williams, spokesman for the Davis School District, said no disciplinary action has been taken against Everton. He said paid leave is a way to take a person out of a situation pending the outcome of an investigation, which has been going on in the school district for about a month.
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