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Frederick County Public Schools officials are reaching out to parents after a grand jury on Friday indicted two teachers for allegedly sexually abusing students.

Ballenger Creek Middle School Principal Mita Badshah sent out a letter on Monday informing parents about a teacher who allegedly used his cell phone to videotape female teenage students while they were undressing.

The letter states that band and drama teacher Adam Windsor, 25, was removed from Ballenger Creek at the end of April, as soon as school officials found that he was being investigated for possessing child pornography.

"Although we were very eager to the students and families in question, the investigators asked us for our continuous confidentiality," Badshah wrote in her letter.

School officials plan to hold a meeting for parents at 7 p.m. July 15 at the school, Badshah said. "The purpose of the meeting is to share the information that we have and to offer support," she said before referring all other questions to the school system's communications office.

According to Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith, Windsor is facing two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, a felony, and two counts of visual surveillance with prurient intent, a misdemeanor.

And Robert Paul Rich, 47, a science teacher at Catoctin High School, is facing one count of sexual abuse of a minor, and six counts of fourth-degree sex offense, a misdemeanor, Smith said.

According to Smith, Windsor, who lives in Hagerstown, was under a federal investigation for possession of child pornography. When investigators searched Windsor's home, they found video footage of female middle school students undressing at school. The video was on Windsor's cell phone, Smith said.

Smith said Windsor allegedly shot the footage between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, 2008.

Windsor has been teaching at the school for three years, according to school officials.

Rich, who is also a Hagerstown resident and has taught in Frederick County since 2004, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student between November 2008 and February 2009, Smith said.

Although the consensual age for a sexual relationship is 16 in Maryland, Rich is facing criminal charges because he is in a position of power, Smith said.

"He [as a teacher] has a different sort of relationship with his students," he said.

The allegations against Rich came up earlier this year and were investigated by the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, Smith said.

Smith said the next step in the process will be to issue warrants against Rich and Windsor. Court dates for pre-trials have not yet been set for either case, Smith said.

Smith could not say if Windsor or Rich had had any previous arrests.

Attempts to reach Windsor and Rich were unsuccessful.

As of Wednesday morning, court documents for each of the cases were not available.

According to Dian Nelson, a communications officer at Frederick County Public Schools, the school system fingerprints and does background checks before hiring any staff member.

Nelson said school officials removed Windsor and Rich from their schools as soon as they were notified by the authorities.

"In both cases they were removed from school, so they don't have contact with students," Nelson said. "We take student safety very seriously."

Both are on administrative leave without pay, said Marita Loose, a schools spokeswoman.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.