Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Executive Director John Taylor at a press conference last November about the incident, with the school’s attorney and public relations consultant in tow.
Police have arrested a former middle-school teacher at Booker T. Washington Academy who was fired back in November for allegedly having sex with and sexting pre-teen students.
The staffer, 27, lives in New Haven. She was charged with four counts of second-degree sexual assault, a felony.
A police release issued Thursday states that she had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old male student at the school on more than one occasion.
The teacher was also charged with four counts of risk of injury to a minor, also a felony, for sending inappropriate text messages to a group of students aged 12 and 13 years of age.
“We know it’ll be a long road to recovery but for us, this arrest means the investigation found credence in our initial complaint,” John Taylor, the executive director of Booker T. Washington, stated in a press release.
“When we first discovered the misconduct, we acted quickly to alert authorities and took the proper steps to secure our scholars’ well-being by being transparent and working to assist in the investigation. All along, our primary focus remained on the safety of every scholar enrolled in our academy. With this most recent development, we will continue to work together with our scholars, their families, and the Booker T. Washington staff to ensure our parents continue to have confidence in our commitment to the safety of our community.”
Read more about the school’s initial response to the news that a staff member had sexually engaged with multiple minors here.
The teacher was released on a $100,000 bond, according to the state judicial website. The teacher is scheduled to appear in Meriden Superior Court on Friday.