Former Derby High para gets probation in sex case involving student

A woman formerly employed as a paraprofessional at Derby High School will serve probation after pleading guilty to engaging in a sexual relationship with a student.

Melanie Lynn Pratt, 37, entered her plea to an amended count of endangering a child, a misdemeanor, earlier this week, on the same day she was scheduled for a jury trial on one felony count of unlawful sexual relations.

The judge immediately gave her a six-month jail sentence, according to Sedgwick County District Court records, but won’t make her serve the time if she successfully completes six months of probation.

The offense Pratt is convicted of doesn’t require she register as a sex offender, according to court records and Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. She was charged last November.

Court records say Pratt met and befriended the student, who was 16 or 17, at the school and engaged in a sex act with him there at least once in the spring of 2015. She reportedly resigned before authorities learned of the encounter.

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Former Derby High para gets probation in sex case involving student."