When I was in 8th grade I used to have a frequent fantasy about doing one of my teachers - she was single, 25 and HOT. I still wonder what happened to her when I read stories like this in the news. Granted, every case is different, but if my 8th grade female teacher had invited me into the supply room to fool around - man, I would have gone and been in 7th heaven. I would not have told my parents...and if I did, my dad probably would have said "way to go, son!" haha.
From what I read about this teacher, incident though, she didn't have sex with the student. They talked via instant messenger (which he initiated) because he was depressed about his girlfriend leaving him. She was telling him to cheer up, there's plenty more fish in the sea kind of thing. Heck, when I was 17 my g/f broke up with me in high school and I ranted about it to a female teacher I liked as a friend (who was my teacher and also the girl's teacher), and she said "there are so many attractive girls out there, why be depressed over her - she seemed rather annoying to me anyway". That was useful advice, and helped me out.