The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting a high school principal agreed to write a letter of recommendation for a substitute teacher under investigation for sexual misconduct.

The newspaper filed a public records request and obtained more than 900 pages of email involving Mary Beth Haglin’s case. Haglin was charged in July with sexual exploitation of a minor. This summer she admitted in an interview with a Cedar Rapids Gazette reporter that she had a relationship with a 17-year-old student.

The principal at Cedar Rapids Washington High School and an assistant principal conducted an investigation in February, but determined rumors about the teacher’s relationship with a student were unfounded. Three months later the principal said in an email he would be “glad to” write a letter of recommendation for the teacher involved — even though a second internal investigation of the teacher’s relationship with the student was underway.

The principal, the vice principal and the human resources director at Cedar Rapids Washington High School who were involved all resigned this summer. The Gazette reports all three qualified for retirement benefits and the three will be paid a total of $350,000 over the next four years.