An anonymous letter accusing a department chairman of sexual harassment has caused a major uproar at a Chicago-area high school.

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"It's like Peyton Place," John Braglia, president of the teachers union at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Ill., told the Chicago Tribune.

Suzanne Rausch, a tenured science teacher, was accused of writing the letter, which claimed to be from a student. Officials in the school district say a handwriting expert identified the script used to address the envelope as Rausch's, but the union says their expert disputes that and a DNA analysis shows Rausch was not the one who licked the envelope, the Tribune reported.

Rausch is on unpaid suspension. Officials allege she had wanted the chairman's job herself and had also learned department chief Terry Walsh planned to transfer her to another school.

She apparently did use a school computer to draft a letter to Walsh that was never sent.

"This transfer will haunt you and your professional reputation for the rest of your career," she said in the unsent letter, the newspaper reported.