A former Caldera High School student teacher had her teaching license suspended for a year as of Oct. 18 after texting with a 17-year-old student about growing marijuana and using drugs, according to the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, the state’s education licensing and regulatory agency.

Raquel Cobian has been licensed since 2022. She completed a student practicum at Caldera High in Bend from September 2022 to April 2023. Student teachers are not school district employees nor are they paid, said Bend-La Pine Schools Communications Director Scott Maben.

Cobian was a counseling intern for the district, said Maben. After she left, she had no further affiliation with the district.

At the time, Cobian held a substitute teaching license that expired in June 2023. She had a restricted teaching license, with an endorsement in social studies, from October 2023 through June 2024.

In October 2023, the commission received a report from Bend-La Pine Schools that Cobian had been investigated for alleged sexual conduct with a student and that she “violated teacher/student boundaries,” according to the commission’s report.

Throughout October and November 2022, the school district received several anonymous complaints “alleging Cobian engaged in a sexual relationship with a CHS student,” according to the commission.

As soon as the district was aware of the original allegations, the administration referred them to the police department for investigation, Maben said.

A local law enforcement investigation and a commission investigation found the allegation was “unfounded” and “unsubstantiated,” respectively, according to the report.

During the 2022-23 school year and until November 2023, Cobian exchanged text messages with a 17-year-old male student, often late at night and occasionally past midnight, about arranging to meet each other and about drug use. The commission found this constituted gross neglect of duty.

Cobian waived the right to a hearing with the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission. The commission requested that Cobian complete an approved training on teacher/student boundaries and submit proof of completion before having her license reinstated.

During the 2023-24 school year, Cobian was a teacher in the Sisters School District, but resigned at the end of the year and is not teaching there this year, said superintendent Curt Scholl.

When reached by The Bulletin on Tuesday, Cobian did not wish to comment.

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