Ex-Teacher of Year Sentenced for Child Molesting

A former national teacher of the year who founded the innovative Foxfire educational project was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a 10-year-old boy.

After he was indicted in September, Eliot Wigginton, 49, had pleaded innocent and said the charges were concocted to “take advantage of Foxfire’s visibility.” His trial was to begin next week.

Superior Court Judge Robert Struble on Wednesday imposed a 20-year sentence, with one year to be served and the rest on probation.

The judge also fined Wigginton $10,000 and ordered him to undergo mental health testing and treatment and to provide such treatment for the child.

The judge said Wigginton must resign from teaching and refrain from any contact with children under age 18 for the duration of his sentence.

Thousands of students have graduated from Wigginton’s Foxfire program, which he founded in 1966 in Rabun Gap, Ga. The program, designed to get students in Appalachia interested in learning, earned Wigginton national teacher of the year honors in 1987.

The indictment alleged that Wigginton fondled the boy in May during an overnight visit. Wigginton had claimed that he simply put the child to bed and removed his pants and shoes after the youngster had fallen asleep on his floor. Earlier in the day, the boy had attended the annual Foxfire picnic.

“It is exceptionally difficult for us to reconcile the visible accomplishments of Mr. Wigginton in the classroom with the hidden wrongdoing he has now admitted,” said James K. Hasson Jr., chairman of the board of directors of the Foxfire Fund Inc. Hasson added that the project would continue.