WALTON COUNTY, Ga. -- A Walton County teacher has been arrested for alleged inappropriate contact with a middle school student.

Noelle Pannell, 31, is charged with sexual exploitation and child molestation of a male student at Carver Middle School in Monroe.

Pannell is a teacher at Carver Middle. She bonded out of the Walton County Jail Wednesday morning after being arrested Tuesday.

“It’s difficult to understand for anybody,” said Capt. Chris Cannon with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.

Walton County investigators said the parents of a seventh-grade boy discovered something was going on between their son and Pannell on the Internet. “Most of the communication was via MySpace. However, there was some face-to-face physical contact,” said Cannon.

“School is supposed to be a safe zone,” said parent Amanda Parker. “It’s a child. A child can’t make a grown-up decision, you know what I mean? He just can’t.”

Cannon said there was no sex between the boy and Pannell.

"At this time in the investigation, we're not going to say it's an isolated incident because we've not completed our investigation,” said Cannon.

Pannell had no comment when reached by Channel 2. Authorities said her preliminary hearing is in three weeks.