EVERETT — A former Highland Christian School principal was sentenced to one year in jail Monday, Nov. 17.

Mark Evan Brown, who prosecutors allege raped a 14-year-old girl in 2008, will be allowed to serve his time on work release, Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry said Monday, Nov. 16.

Brown, 38, pleaded guilty Sept. 11 to second-degree kidnapping of a teenage female student at the private school in Arlington.

Brown had originally been charged with rape in the third degree in Snohomish County Superior Court in July 2008. Prosecutors alleged that Brown had sexual intercourse with the teenage student in June 2008 after encouraging her to run away from home and promising her a place to stay at the school.

Prosecutors amended their original charges of third-degree rape in favor of the kidnapping charges as part of a plea agreement. The kidnapping charges are a class B felony, while rape charges are only a class C felony, said Halley Hupp, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor.

On Monday, Castleberry ordered Brown to register as a kidnapper for 15 years, and the former principal cannot have contact with anyone under age 18 unless he gets approval from his corrections officer.

The judge will allow Brown to be on work release, which means if he meets certain employment conditions, he will be able to work during his one-year sentence.

“If somebody is serving jail time, they’re solely on the citizens of Snohomish County’s dime,” Hupp said Tuesday. “With work release, they are paying for their own jail time.”

Brown was fired by on July 25, 2008.