The case of Michael Tye, the swim coach and psychology teacher at Independence High charged with two counts each of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and indecent liberties with a student, brings up another round of what did they know, and when did they know it.

I’m told it was somewhat common knowledge in the Indy community that Tye lavished attention on male students and would invite them over to his house. This practice, in fact, is what caused a parent to complain about Tye to CMS years ago. This resulted in the then Indy principal Rick Hinson closely watching Tye’s interaction with students, according to those close to the situation. CMS is being tight-tipped about what other, if any, steps were taken in response to complaints about Tye.

It would be interesting to know, for example, if Hinson’s successor as principal at IHS — current CMS area superintendent Nancy Bartles — continued the watchful eye on Tye when she replaced Hinson in 2005, or if Bartles was even made aware of the complaints about Tye.

In the meantime, the investigation into what Tye may have done with any photos or videos of nude students Concord police claim that he paid for continues. Logic suggests that one way a person on a teacher’s salary can afford to pay $100 and up for nude photos is to turn around and sell those photos to other people, perhaps via a Web site.