Tag: TEACHERS
Professor offered me good grades to sleep with him
CUNY just can’t seem to keep pervy profs off the payroll.
In a shocking Brooklyn federal court lawsuit, a female undergraduate claims her human-anatomy professor at LaGuardia Community College, Hany Fam, offered her good grades for sex.
The case comes on the heels of bombshell allegations that professors at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice raped and tried to pimp out students and used and sold drugs on campus. The widening scandal, now being probed by the Manhattan D.A.’s office and the state Inspector General, was first revealed last month by The Post.
In the lawsuit, the 40-something student, going by the pseudonym Jane Doe, claims she asked Fam for a meeting in October 2017 to discuss grades. The prof, 60, insisted they meet at her apartment, court papers say.
“Fearing that she would offend her professor and perhaps jeopardize her grade in his class, [she] finally relented,” the suit says.
Fam arrived at her Brooklyn apartment and gave her a bottle of wine and a kiss on the cheek, court papers say. He sat on the couch and told her he was “lonely” and had “problems in his marriage,” the suit claims.
He “unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a scar and claimed to have a heart condition that left him with just a few years to live,” the suit says.
The student “got up and went to the kitchen, but Professor Fam followed her, leaned in to hug her, and told her to relax,” court papers say.
After pouring two glasses of wine — which the woman claims she refused to drink — Fam “said that he could make things much easier for her, and repeatedly asked if she would be his ‘friend,’” court papers say.
When the woman asked if “friend” was code for “sex,” he confirmed it was, according to the lawsuit.
“He suggested they meet once a week and told [her] it wouldn’t be ‘that hard’ for her because of his heart condition,” court papers say.
Taking his pitch one step further, Fam said other professors have similar arrangements with students, according to the lawsuit.
When the student made “unambiguous . . . expressions of disinterest,” the prof “became aggravated and told Plaintiff that she was too uptight,” the lawsuit says.
On his way out, Fam handed her “what appeared to be questions and answers for the following day’s scheduled quiz and told [her] to think about his offer.”
The woman did not return to Fam’s class and reported him to the college’s Title IX office, which handles sexual harassment complaints.
The college concluded that Fam “offered [her] a good grade … in exchange for sexual favors,” according to the lawsuit.
A LaGuardia spokeswoman told the Post the professors’s last day in the classroom was the day the student’s complaint was filed, Nov. 7, 2017, and that he was terminated on Jan. 11, 2018. He is “not eligible to work at LaGuardia any time in the future,” said spokeswoman Elizabeth Streich.
The public college located in Long Island City, which offers two-year associates degrees, also agreed to provide counseling for the woman, cover the costs of her course materials and re-enrollment in the class, but did not remove her “withdrawal” from the class on her transcript.
The woman — who is being represented by Carrie Goldberg, the Brooklyn lawyer backing at least two Harvey Weinstein accusers — claims her life has taken a dark turn because of the “emotional stress” of the ordeal. She “has even felt unsafe in her own home because Professor Fam knows where she lives,” the suit says.
The plaintiff told the Post she wants to maintain her anonymity because she is “scared of the repercussions.
“He’s obviously not a nice person, so I don’t know what lengths he might go to. It’s scary for a single woman who lives alone.”
She is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
Court papers also claim Fam was part of a “wider culture of similar behavior by LaGuardia professors.”
In a review for Fam on the Rate My Professor website, a student wrote in October 2017 that he “wastes time on dirty jokes . . . I don’t know how to respect a professor who cracks dirty jokes all the time.”
Fam has been a lecturer at LaGuardia Community College and an adjunct associate professor at CUNY’s York College in Queens since at least 2012, according to SeeThroughNY. He earned $35,000 last year from LaGuardia and $14,000 from York.
Fam could not be reached for comment.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/13/professor-offered-me-good-grades-to-sleep-with-him-suit/
Teacher accused of sex assault, trying to hypnotize girls
HUMMELSTOWN, Pa. — A third-grade teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a Pennsylvania elementary school and police say he tried to hypnotize others and make them vow to obey him.
James Mentzer, of Hummelstown, was charged Thursday with institutional sexual assault, indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor and five counts of corruption of minors. Police began investigating him in February, and Mentzer was put on leave from East Hanover Elementary School.
Police say Mentzer requested each girl — ranging in age from 8 to 11 — come to his classroom to record videos for an alleged project.
Police say Mentzer videotaped them reading and attempted to hypnotize them.
One victim told police he made her repeat the phrase “I will obey you, Master” as he swung a necklace in front of her eyes.
No attorney information is available in online court documents.
Teacher pleads guilty after having baby with student she adopted
A former teacher in Ohio pleaded guilty to charges stemming from giving birth to her student-turned-foster son’s baby.
Laura Lynn Cross, 37, appeared in court Friday on sexual battery charges in connection with a three-year relationship with the male teenager, the Beacon Journal reported.
Prosecutors alleged that she and the then-16-year-old allegedly became sexually involved in 2013 while he was a freshman at Buchtel High School.
Their relationship reportedly became more complicated in 2015 when the English teacher resigned from the school and asked his mother to be his legal guardian.
Cross allegedly told his mom that she wanted to “mentor” him and was granted partial custody, according to authorities.
Under the court-approved arrangement, Cross and the teen moved in together to her Tallmadge home, officials said.
In June 2015, the boy’s mother filed a police complaint about the alleged affair. No charges, however, were filed until authorities learned that Cross gave birth to the teen’s baby in December 2015.
“First of all, she’s a schoolteacher,” the teen’s father, who didn’t identify himself, told news station WEWS-TV. “To get aroused by a child, basically you have to be a sick individual.”
She was arrested in August 2017 on sexual battery charges after authorities obtained a recording of the teen confessing to his father, according to news site MyTownNeo.
“It was a straight failure from the system,” the teen’s father told WEWS-TV. “From the school and definitely from the police.”
Cross is set to be sentenced May 24.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/03/28/teacher-pleads-guilty-after-having-baby-with-student-she-adopted/
Teacher who made sex tape with student gets hired again
A former Staten Island teacher who resigned in disgrace after making a sex tape with a student has found greener pastures in the Garden State, according to a report.
Nadine Sudlow, 30, who taught English at Liberation Diploma Plus HS, had sex with her “pet pupil” during a hotel tryst that was caught in footage that the youth shared with his pals, according to a probe.
She regularly treated the student to free lunches and Starbucks coffee, which he said made him feel “weird” but that he thought she was just “fooling around.”
The untenured teacher — who told the student in e-mails that she was “mad horny” – resigned in July 2014, two months after a complaint was lodged with the office of a special schools investigator.
But shortly after a 2015 report in The Post, New Jersey granted Sudlow a teaching certificate and she was hired by the Newark school district, the Asbury Park Press reported Wednesday.
She claimed a principal who knew about her history encouraged her to apply for the position, the news outlet reported.
“It happens so often because they can get away with it,” said Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation, or SESAME, the paper reported.
“They have the support of the teachers union. School administrators and districts would rather stay safe and save money than save children.”
New Jersey is considering legislation that would ban confidentiality agreements that protect teachers with substantiated cases of abuse or misconduct.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/02/15/teacher-who-made-sex-tape-with-student-gets-hired-again/
Teacher allegedly groped teen, asked him to ‘send nudes’
A teacher in Georgia was arrested after allegedly groping a 15-year-old student and telling the boy via Snapchat to “send nudes,” authorities said.
Ryan Harvey, a 24-year-old former orchestra teacher at Woodland High School in Stockbridge, was arrested Sunday on several charges, including aggravated child molestation, sexual battery and solicitation of sodomy, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The alleged victim told deputies from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office that Harvey told him in early September that he was the “only 15-year-old that I would ever f—k with,” according to a sheriff’s incident report.
The alleged advances continued the following month, as the teen told authorities that Harvey would occasionally send him videos of him driving or doing other mundane activities on Snapchat. The teen said Harvey also sent him an image with a heart emoji with a caption that read: “send nudes.”
The teen said Harvey then sent another message saying “that wasn’t for you” before sending yet another that read, “That WAS for you.”
Harvey also asked the boy to stay after school on one occasion to “do the thing” while making a gesture implying oral sex and then sent the teen a photo of himself in November wearing nothing but pink underwear while standing in a bathroom. Later that month, Harvey groped the teen on two occasions, according to the incident report.
Harvey, who was placed on administrative leave after an investigation was launched in November, resigned last month, just weeks before his arrest. He remains in custody without bail at the Henry County Jail and is due to return to court on March 6, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One parent of a student at the school, meanwhile, said he’s now worried about his son.
“I heard about it this morning and my first instinct was to worry about the welfare of my son,” Darrell Pierce told WXIA. “Because if somebody’s like that around the school and they’re doing what they’re doing with children, then you know, my son could have been involved.”
Harvey, who graduated from the school in 2012, said he was “pretty nervous” to return to his alma mater to teach since he was “not too far removed from my students in age,” he said in 2016.
“Eventually, I want to be a professional orchestra conductor,” Harvey told the Henry Herald. “Having a music education background will definitely help me in the professional conducting world. It’s an out-there idea but one day, I want to conduct for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra or New York Philharmonic.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/02/07/teacher-allegedly-groped-teen-asked-him-to-send-nudes/
Naked teacher chases kids on playground in bizarre video
A physical education teacher was caught stripping naked and chasing children around a playground in a bizarre video circulating online.
Parents are outraged after footage surfaced of the Carthay Center Elementary School teacher exposing himself to nearby second-grade and fifth-grade students Friday on the Los Angeles campus, news station KCAL reported.
The video was reportedly captured by a construction worker who started filming the man, who was not identified, as he put his pants back on in the middle of the playground.
“He was supposed to be helping them learn P.E., run around and have fun,” a parent told KCAL. “But he undressed and started chasing the kids while he was naked, and then the kids ducked and dodged, ran into some of the classrooms and got safe haven that way.”
School officials reportedly notified parents of the horrifying episode in a robocall and letter sent home with students.
Counselors were also made available to students in light of the incident.
No charges have been filed against the man but authorities are investigating the case, KCAL reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/23/naked-teacher-chases-kids-on-playground-in-bizarre-video/
Ex-teacher claims she was fired for calling cops after student sexually assaulted her
A former Westchester County schoolteacher claims she was fired for calling the cops on a student who sexually assaulted her, according to a federal lawsuit.
Judy Sugar is suing the Greenburgh Eleven school district and Elton Thompson, the principal of Mary McLeod Bethune Junior and Senior High School in Dobbs Ferry, where she worked until her dismissal in 2015.
On May 14, 2015, she claims a student “accosted” her, touching her legs and backside with his exposed penis as she bent over a microscope, according to the complaint filed Thursday in US District Court in White Plains.
Sugar said she immediately reported the incident to Thompson but claims he did nothing.
She also said she had complained previously about the student but her concerns were ignored.
The head teacher at the school reportedly told Sugar that if she wanted to file a report, she could stop by Dobbs Ferry police headquarters on her way home instead of calling officers to the school.
But Sugar said she was worried about the safety of other students and of other teachers, particularly the recently hired “young, attractive” music instructor with whom the student was in class.
So she called the cops who said they would respond to the school immediately.
Upon hearing this, the complaint states, Thompson reportedly said, “You called the police?”
Almost immediately after that, Thompson allegedly told the teacher to leave school grounds and that insinuated job was in jeopardy.
Later that day, Sugar reported the assault to cops, who told her they had been turned away from the school earlier in the day.
The student was arrested the next day and an order of protection was issued barring him from having any contact with his former teacher.
Four days later, Sugar said she was summoned to the principal’s office and fired.
The school district claimed she’d violated their policy barring teachers from calling the police to report a crime on school grounds, but Sugar said she was unaware of any such policy.
The former teacher is asking for her job back, along with back pay, bonuses and benefits and for the school district to pay her legal fees.
Schools Superintendent Anthony Gyetua-Danquah said Tuesday that he was not made aware of any lawsuit and therefore could not comment.
Thompson could not be reached Tuesday.
Teachers resign at Pennsylvania school where they claim to be attacked by first-grade students
Teachers say they’re being terrorized by unruly students as young as six in a Pennsylvania school district where more than 40 teachers have resigned since the start of the school year.
Amanda Sheaffer, a first-grade teacher who attended a Harrisburg school board meeting on Monday, said, “I have been kicked, punched, hit, scratched. I’ve had a student physically restraining me in front of my other students,” according to PennLive.com.
Sheaffer, who has worked in the district for four years, said the incidents interrupt her day, as she’s required to clear the room, call security, and write a report.
Teachers are now asking for support after a series of violent altercations with students led to at least 45 resignations between July and October, according to the Harrisburg Education Association.
Association President Jody Barksdale, who says more teachers have resigned since then, wants the association to establish a task force to address the children displaying violent behavior.
“Teachers and students are being hit, kicked, slapped, scratched, cussed at … and observing other students flip over tables, desks and chairs. Teachers have had to take the rest of their class into the hallway to protect them during these outbursts,” Barksdale said.
Several teachers and parents from Melrose and Downey elementary schools appeared at the meeting on Monday, calling for the school board to take action after Barksdale first relayed complaints in January. The district claims not all of the teacher resignations were due to student violence. Still, Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney says the district understands that there is a “different type of support that is needed.”
via: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/penn-teachers-terrorized-unruly-students-article-1.3649759
Cops bust wife of high school football coach waiting for sex romp with teen
A married teacher in Oklahoma was arrested Wednesday after having a sexual relationship with an underage student.
Hunter Day, 22, a science teacher at Yukon High School, was arrested by the Canadian County Sheriff’s Department on complaints of second degree rape, facilitating sexual contact with a minor and possession of child pornography, KWTV said. She is reportedly married to the school’s football coach.
Authorities said they investigated the relationship after being notified by the boy’s parents and finding explicit pictures and messages on his phone, the report said.
On the day of the arrest, the sheriff’s department said that Day and the teen had planned to meet at her house, KWTV reported. Deputies arrived at the residence and reportedly texted the teacher from the boy’s phone saying he’d arrived. Day responded to the message saying, “The doors [sic] unlocked as usual,” the report said.
When investigators entered the home, Day was sitting on the floor of her living room with candles lit and all of the lights off, authorities said. She was also reportedly wearing a Christmas cat t-shirt and workout shorts.
The teacher confessed to sending the boy illicit “bra and panty” pictures and said he’d also sent her pictures of his genitals, KWTV reported.
“I’m no longer surprised by the people who commit these crimes, because predators come from all walks of life,” Canadian County Sheriff Chris West told the outlet.
“This is a classic case of a serious breach of public trust,” he said. “School teachers are entrusted to protect and educate our children, not to engage in an unlawful sexual relationship with them.”
According to a statement released on Twitter, administrators from the high school said “the safety and well-being of our students is our number one priority,” and there was no indication in Day’s record that she would make such a “very poor decision.”
The school said it was working with authorities in their investigation and couldn’t discuss details of the case, according to the post.
Day was incarcerated at the Canadian County Jail and bond was set for $85,000, KWTV reported.
Teacher accused of sleeping with student who tried kill himself indicted on sex charges
A married teacher in Maine accused of sleeping with a student was indicted Tuesday on a number of sexual assault charges.
Jill Lamontagne, 29, turned herself into authorities after she was indicted by a York County Grand Jury on six counts of gross sexual assault, two counts of unlawful sexual contact and six counts of abuse of a minor, the Portland Press Herald reported.
“The indictment was the culmination of an investigation into a relationship Lamontagne allegedly had with a juvenile, male student while she was a teacher at the school,” Kennebunk Deputy Chief of Police Michael Nugent said Wednesday, according to Seacoast Online.
Lamontagne allegedly had a relationship with the male student, 17, who was in her health class at Kennebunk High School at the time of sexual contact.
An abuse order filed by the student’s mother in Biddeford District Court states the relationship between the teacher and boy was revealed when he was hospitalized following a suspected suicide attempt.
The student ingested a concoction of ibuprofen, Tylenol, cold medicine and blood thinner Warfarin, according to the Press Herald.
The boy confessed to the relationship to his aunt a day after his hospitalization. The student and his teacher had sexual contact “numerous times, in the classroom, at her house, in her car,” the student’s mother wrote. The student said Lamontagne performed oral sex on him, adding that “other stuff happened.”
The student allegedly told his mother and a nurse at the hospital that he loved his teacher and took the mixture of medicines to attempt suicide, Seacoast reported.
Lamontagne told the student she hadn’t had a sexual relationship with anyone for two years. Court records reportedly indicate she is married and has children.
The teacher was placed on administrative leave June 12 when the boy’s family notified the school of the sexual contact. Lamontagne then filed for family medical leave, and was still on leave when she submitted her resignation in September.
Lamontagne was booked on the charges and released on $1,000 bail. She’s expected to appear in court Dec. 22.