Middle school student facing felony for cybercrime

A student observed a teacher typing in the password. It was not given to the students. So it seems clear enough that the access is unauthorized.

He should not be charged with a felony though.

It certainly is hacking. A system was secured and the access was not authorized by the owner of the system. It's not a sophisticated hack, in the same way that sliding a credit card through a door to defeat a poorly designed door lock is not a sophisticated way of breaking and entering, but it's breaking and entering none the less.

However, charging a kid with a criminal offense for showing interest in probably the biggest growing field in IT today isn't going to do wonders for his future creativity. He'll probably become a lawyer instead of a Certified Ethical Hacker.