(Ankeny, IA) — A former Iowa math teacher and softball coach has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pursuing a years-long romantic and sexual relationship with a student.
Rachel Whiteside, 35, taught for Ankeny Community Schools from 2014 to 2024 at Northview Middle School. In 2024, she was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and lascivious conduct, all involving a former student and beginning in 2015, when the student was 14. Whiteside pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee and on Thursday, she was sentenced to up to two decades in prison.
Whiteside apologized in court, but the judge said he questioned whether she truly accepted responsibility and sentenced her to the maximum possible prison term.
