× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

A former Bismarck gym teacher who admitted to having a sexual relationship with a ninth- grade male student in 2013 must serve 60 days in jail and will not have to register as a sex offender, South Central District Court Judge Bruce Romanick ruled Wednesday.

Susan Kathleen Duursma, 35, who pleaded guilty to Class B felony child abuse in May and resigned from her job in February, also received a six-year suspended prison sentence and five years of probation.

At the beginning of the Wednesday hearing, Burleigh County Assistant State’s Attorney Pamela Nesvig invited the father of the victim to speak.

When Nesvig asked the man what changes he had observed in his son, he answered that prior to the abuse, “my son has always been a laid-back boy.”

The boy was innocent, his father said, “and that was taken from him.”

The man described the impact that news media coverage, social media, and the words of “so-called friends” had on his son, causing him to become withdrawn despite his parents’ best efforts to shield him from the scrutiny.

“The only positive that’s come out of this is the rally and support” for the victim, his father said.