SUNNYVALE -- police arrested a 41-year-old Wilcox High School teacher Monday afternoon on suspicion of having a sexual relationship with a student.

Edward Riley Slate III teaches math and special education at Wilcox, according to the school's Web site. He is suspected of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student between January and June of this year, police said.

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety officers arrested Slate on Monday at the school. The arrest occurred during school hours but his class was not disrupted, Capt. Doug Moretto said.

Moretto said the department began investigating the alleged relationship in May. He declined to say how police learned about it because he said that information is critical to the case.

Slate was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on multiple charges of having sexual relations with a minor, police said. Moretto said Slate was cooperative during the arrest and is still in custody.

"This is the second teacher-student investigation that we have been involved with in the past six months," Moretto said. "This situation is more common than any of us would like to see."

Santa Clara Unified School District spokeswoman Tabitha Kappeler-Hurley said Slate will be put on administrative leave, but that hasn't happened yet because he was just arrested Monday.

Charges haven't been filed yet because the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office is still waiting to receive the case, spokeswoman Amy Cornell said.

Investigators are looking for other potential victims, and anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Kirk Kim at (408) 730-7120.