Illinois – from triblocal.com/- A New Trier High School teacher was fired Wednesday morning for an alleged “inappropriate relationship with a student,” an official said.

The school board voted 6-0 to dismiss German teacher Daniela Rossmann after an hour-long discussion in private, said Nicole Dizon, New Trier High School District 203 spokeswoman.

“The reason given was for reasons related to an inappropriate relationship with a student,” Dizon said.

The dismissal comes less than 48 hours after New Trier Superintendent Linda Yonke sent an e-mail to parents saying Rossmann had been removed from her classroom position last week over allegations that New Trier did not immediately specify.

Rossmann has not responded to several telephone messages seeking comment.

She had been with New Trier since 2003, according to Yonke’s letter. The district’s website said she was a member of the Modern and Classical Languages Department, has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mainz in Germany, and a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University. She was also listed as the faculty sponsor of the German Culture Club.

Her base salary was $77,145, according to a Dizon.

Yonke’s letter said “the proper authorities were notified as well, and the investigation is ongoing.”

Winnetka Police Sgt. Marc Hornstein has said his department, which covers the New Trier upper class campus where Rossmann taught, is not involved in the investigation.

“There is no investigation regarding our police department,” Hornstein said. “Obviously we’re responsible for anything in our jurisdiction, and anything outside of that would be someone else’s authority.”

Rossmann is a Chicago resident. A Chicago Police Department spokesman said he could not comment on an investigation — and would not confirm nor deny that one is underway.

“It is still a continuing investigation, there are no charges at this time,” added Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

The suspension fueled a flurry of hushed talk at New Trier’s Winnetka campus this week.

After school Tuesday, dozens of New Trier High School students walking west along Winnetka Avenue declined to comment — several said they had been instructed by teachers not to speak with the media.

One student who stopped to talk to a reporter was shouted at by a gray-bearded man, apparently a school employee, who was walking through the Metra train station parking lot, just west of the school property. The man told the student he was not to speak with journalists. The student quickly apologized and walked away.

Several students said they were read a statement by their teachers that morning, but that it only said Rossmann was accused of wrongdoing and didn’t offer any specifics. That didn’t prevent rumors from flying through the halls of the school, many students said.

One substitute teacher walking away from the Winnetka school on Tuesday said the topic only came up in one of her class periods, and that she didn’t know more than the statement previously released by the school district.

Sarah Rossi, a junior at the school, said her curiosity has gotten the better of her.

“I’ve asked every one of my teachers because I really want to know. I’m dying to know,” Rossi said.

A former student, reached via Facebook, said Rossmann was her advisor for three years and had a profoundly positive impact on her.

“We are all talking about the news and we are surprised by this news,” Molly Manning, of New Trier’s class of 2009, wrote in an e-mail. “We all just wish we could do something to help her and let her know that we are here for her support.”

Advisory classrooms are New Trier’s version of homeroom periods at other schools. They meet every morning and are gender-specific. Rossmann was influential on Manning and her fellow female classmates during their three years together, Manning wrote.

“Rossmann brought a diverse group of girls together in three years, we feel we honestly had one of the closest female advisory upon graduating and the reason for that is because of her,” Manning wrote. “She is truly an amazing woman, teacher, mother and mentor.”