BRIGHTON, Colo. -- Ralph Kelly, a teacher at Brighton Collegiate High School, pleaded guilty Friday to attempted sexual assault on student by one in a position of trust.

The guilty plea came during a scheduled pretrial conference for his upcoming trial on a charge of sexual assault on a child.

He was arrested in December 2007 following an investigation into allegations he sexually assaulted a male student earlier that month.

The student, who said he is gay, told police that the two had sex when they were alone in a classroom. The assault occurred after the two exchanged suggestive words for several days prior to the assault, the student told police.

Kelly will be sentenced on Jan. 30. He taught social studies and German at the charter school.

The school is the same one where Carrie McCandless was a teacher. McCandless was sentenced to 45 days in jail for providing alcohol to, and having unlawful sexual contact with a 17-year old student in 2006. Her husband was the school's principal and the incident gain nationwide publicity.

The high school changed its name after the McCandless issue and after a new facility was built. The charter school is affiliated with the Brighton school district but is semi-autonomous.

A third, incident resulted in similar charges in December of 2005. Substitute teacher David Mundy Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail for sexual contact with a female student. He is the son of then-school board president David Mundy Sr.

Mundy Sr. resigned after he pleaded guilty of failing to report child abuse.

Brighton Collegiate High School has about 300 students.