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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 1:54:21 PM | Friday, March 28th 2008, 2:58 AM
Here we go again!! I for one, have had it with this stuff. Already 140 comments since yesterday. (NY Times allows us to login and comment)
A 25-year-old Long Island teacher was busted for having sex with a 16-year-old student in a late-night rendezvous in their high school parking lot, cops said Thursday.
Heather Kennedy, who teaches math at Wantagh High School, was released on $35,000 bond after she was arraigned in a Hempstead courtroom on charges of rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
She was arrested as she returned home late Wednesday, a day after the boy's father reported the alleged sex crime against his son, who attends the school.
"I've known Heather for a long time and it's certainly out of character for her to be accused of such a crime," said Kennedy's lawyer, Steven Zimmer.
Nassau County cops said Kennedy seduced the teen after he picked her up March 18 at her grandmother's Massapequa home, where she lives, and went cruising for several hours. The pair then stopped at the darkened high school parking lot, talked some more and then had sex, said Detective Lt. Richard Zito.
Things unraveled as the boy's father grew worried when the teen blew curfew - and didn't answer his cell phone because his battery died. The teen finally called his father from the teacher's phone.
"The son made up a story about where he was," Zito said, but the father didn't believe him and later got him to confess. Zito said the father had reservations at first about whether to prosecute and waited a week.
The Wantagh Union Free School District said Kennedy was put on paid leave.
"The teacher has been immediately reassigned out of the classroom to her home pending the outcome of the investigation," said Deborah Casper, a district spokeswoman.
Kennedy, who has taught at the school for three years, has no prior arrests or past disciplinary problems. She was "well thought of by school administrators," Zito said.
"We are still dealing with it ourselves," said a woman who answered the door at Kennedy's Argyle Place home.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/03/27/2008-03-27_teacher_accused_of_sex_with_student.html?ref=nl&nltr_ct=1&nltr_id=Teacher%20accused%20of%20sex%20with%20student
How many boys can wait til 16 to have sex? I’ve heard men say ‘I was 11, 12 my first time…‘ It’s not possible for the boy to say ‘ah no, I cant’ Their hormones are raging and they aren’t in control and shouldn’t be expected to be in control . The teacher is just 26. We don’t know if she’s a fully developed (emotionally) woman. There are so many variables. In just a few short years, none of this will mean a dam thing!! It’s just another case of BS!! Remember the lady teach who had 2 kids with her young boy of (11?). And she spent 6 yr (?) He was ‘older emotionally than she was’.
Media shows T and A to the point of blowing young males minds off the planet.
Like one male commenter said:
the kid got the bragging rights...the father got the right to sue the school for "abusing" his son....and mark my words one day very soon we will find out that the school is sued by the father over this.....the teacher was a dummy....and the son is a fruitcake....what male at 16 didn't want to do it with a 25 yr old woman ??????? it used to be everyones dream and fantasy......even 25 yr old goat would do..........I don't know whats become of this boys way of thinking when he went and told daddy that he fooled around with a teacher......…
This is statuary rape, not rape. The differnce is the boy consented.
They say ‘not enough good teachers can be found’, and ‘teachers aren’t paid enough’. This is yet another area of society that needs to be re-balanced.
What happen to little ole ladies wearing their grey hair in a bun?? I never had sexy teachers (that I recall, male or female). Seems their should be a dress code for teachers! Stop turning these boys on!! (not saying thats how it happened...) | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 2:11:58 PM | | They aren't going to have any of the good teachers left if they keep charging them with crimes. Bless her heart. That father is a twit. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 3:06:00 PM |
How many boys can wait til 16 to have sex? I’ve heard men say ‘I was 11, 12 my first time…‘ It’s not possible for the boy to say ‘ah no, I cant’ Their hormones are raging and they aren’t in control and shouldn’t be expected to be in control . The teacher is just 26. We don’t know if she’s a fully developed (emotionally) woman. There are so many variables. In just a few short years, none of this will mean a dam thing!! It’s just another case of BS!! Remember the lady teach who had 2 kids with her young boy of (11?). And she spent 6 yr (?) He was ‘older emotionally than she was’.
Media shows T and A to the point of blowing young males minds off the planet. From the student's POV, it's considered cool to have sex with a 25-year-old woman. From the teacher's POV, it's considered cool to have sex with a much younger man. Also consider that men seem to be always considered to act the same, whatever age they are, so from her friends' POV, she would have been treated the same by a man closer to her own age, or even older, but that the 16-year-old had a better body and more energy.
What I think is that if 26-year-olds are not considered emotionally mature, then they shouldn't be put in charge of young people. If she is mature enough to teach a 16-year-0ld, she's mature enough to not have sex with a pupil. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 3:12:38 PM |
What I think is that if 26-year-olds are not considered emotionally mature, then they shouldn't be put in charge of young people. Agreed. It's time to create some sort of psyche test to go along with a teachers certificate. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 3:14:58 PM | It always seems to be the same way, most women are outraged over stuff like this and think the women should get the maximum penalty the law allows, most men say they wish it had happened to them when they were that age(actually legal age is 16 in some states, it is in my state). I guess most women still don't understand men. Maybe they never will.  | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 4:17:54 PM |
Where were these teachers when I was in school?
No lie! It always seemed to just be the male teachers sleeping with the females when I was growing up. Now it seems to be quite a few 20s and 30s cute female teachers boinking their students. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 4:54:02 PM |
What I think is that if 26-year-olds are not considered emotionally mature, then they shouldn't be put in charge of young people. Agreed. It's time to create some sort of psyche test to go along with a teachers certificate.
No lie! It always seemed to just be the male teachers sleeping with the females when I was growing up. Now it seems to be quite a few 20s and 30s cute female teachers boinking their students. An ex-employer of mine told me that when he was 17 and in high school, a class-mate of his slept with a "hot" teacher in her 20s. But back then, it didn't make the news, ItmightbeDave. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 6:02:52 PM | Ima, I absolutely agree with you - a psych evaluation should be required...for teachers and administrators alike. As for Scorp's theory that "MOST" teachers would fail - I heartily disagree. I believe about 30-40 percent would probably fail. Solid, dedicated and stable teachers don't end up in the news - that's why you don't hear about them. As a teacher, frankly I cannot fathom what motivates an individual to risk his or her certificate or reputation for what can only be an odd carnival ride. I certainly don't think of my students in a sexual way and it's appalling to hear about those who do. A female coach in our district was dismissed a couple of years ago for a continuing relationship with one of her soccer girls. It makes my skin crawl. Part of the Education Act includes the phrase "in loco parentis" implying that, while in the position of teacher, instructor, administrator or coach, we serve as the student's "parent", in that locale - which in my estimation makes this type of violation especially vile.
Unfortunately, incidents of this sort are not restricted to young teachers...or female teachers...or heterosexual teachers - and the reports have increased since the M.K. LeTourneau case received so much publicity a few years ago. There were always male teachers hitting on the girls...but it never seemed to hit the press much - and when it did there was often the excuse that the teen girl was failing and offered sex in exchange for a passing grade. That doesn't seem to be the case with the female teachers.
I think that we need to start making education a valued profession, like being a lawyer or a doctor..Then we could get enough candidates for teaching that we could afford to be choosy and only choosing the ones who pass such a test
What a novel idea - in many countries that's the case - and for centuries, the only true "professions" were teaching, medicine and law. I think what you're recommending, Scorp, is that the qualifying exams be more rigorous. Teachers DO have to pass exams for qualification (at least in the U.S.) which are state regulated. Most states require a separate exam for each area of certification, and many high schools require teachers to have advanced degrees in their specific areas of curriculum. Some states certification standards are considerably higher than others, and that inequity is difficult to address. Teachers are also evaluated by administrators and specialists at least twice per year...and certification has to be renewed periodically, in an effort to ensure continued qualification - but no psych evals there either. Who, exactly, are you advocating as qualified to determine which teachers to "choose"? Local districts and school boards (who approve the hiring) generally are comprised of citizens, many of whom are lawyers...doctors...& other "professionals", many of whom should also be subject to psych testing to determine their own susceptibility to corruption/instability.
Another issue in only "choosing" the ones who pass such a test is that the profession doesn't pay well enough to consistently attract highly qualified people - so, when you only find 60 out of 100 (and that's optimistic) who pass such a test...you'll be complaining that your child isn't getting the right amount of personal attention because his/her classes are too overcrowded. It's a catch-22, unfortunately. Lawyers and doctors are paid at levels commensurate with their perceived "value". Teachers don't have that incentive - so it's pretty clear we don't do this for the money. Still, if you consider the perception most people have of lawyers as dishonest scum and doctors as heartless and greedy...I'd hate to see education "elevated" to that level of societal opprobrium. Would you administer the same psych tests on lawyers and doctors? I think we all could name a few who would probably have been weeded out of those areas as well. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 6:55:25 PM | | Huba huba - parking lot sex with a teach. I don't remember stuff like this going on 20 years ago. Do you think it has been happening all this time, but is only being reported now? | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 8:10:50 PM |
Ima, I absolutely agree with you - a psych evaluation should be required...for teachers and administrators alike. As for Scorp's theory that "MOST" teachers would fail - I heartily disagree. I believe about 30-40 percent would probably fail. Solid, dedicated and stable teachers don't end up in the news - that's why you don't hear about them. That might be. But in my school, it did seem like most teachers were missing several "marbles". Maybe my school was not the norm. But it does seem that 30-40% is very steep for any profession, in my opinion.
I think that we need to start making education a valued profession, like being a lawyer or a doctor..Then we could get enough candidates for teaching that we could afford to be choosy and only choosing the ones who pass such a test
What a novel idea - in many countries that's the case - and for centuries, the only true "professions" were teaching, medicine and law. I think what you're recommending, Scorp, is that the qualifying exams be more rigorous. Actually, I'm thinking of something else entirely. From what I've gathered, teaching used to be considered a vocation, and had much respect and social standing. But that has changed, and even 20 years ago, people would say "those who can, do, those who can't, teach". It certainly seems that in the UK, teaching has become considered a "soft option" and frankly is not considered something that an intelligent and capable person would do by choice.
When you look at the job market, it turns out that more and more people are leaving high-paying jobs in order to take jobs that allow them more job satisfaction and to spend more time with their kids. So it only makes sense that there would be far more people interested in teaching. But we're crying out for teachers, especially in the Sciences. It's got so bad that they keep running adverts trying to sell us on how wonderful teaching is. Those adverts would have been considered an unnecessary waste of time and money once upon a time. Now, they are a necessity. Why? Because being a teacher is no longer a wonderful vocation, for lots of reasons.
Part is the way that teachers are treated by students, and how little control teachers have over their students nowadays.
Part is the way that teachers are treated by other teachers and superiors, and how much bullying goes on between teachers.
Part is the way that teachers are dictated by the curriculum and targets, and how little control teachers have over how to teach.
Part is the way that the cost of living keeps rising and that teachers' pay doesn't rise in line with the cost of living, and in particular, that the housing market has risen so much that many teachers cannot afford to buy a house near their school, maybe not even able to afford to buy a house at all.
I do think that certain things are NOT stringent enough in the teaching process. But I don't think that the problem is that teachers are not well-educated enough. I think that teachers have no better communication skills than most people and most people don't have good communication skills in my opinion. I also think that teaching itself, as a form of controlling a class, and educating others, is a difficult skill, and most teachers don't learn how to do that nearly as well as they need. I also think that teachers are not better educated as to how information comes about, any better than anyone else, and they need to learn far better how to distinguish fact from reality, and how to teach things in both an unjudgemental and an open manner, which allows every student to gain a true perspective on what they learn. One example is that it was only pointed out to me a few months ago by a poster on POF, that it was a complete fabrication from anti-religious atheists that Christianity ever taught the Earth was flat, and yet I saw a mature poster who is a teacher and has almost certainly been teaching for over 20 years, has posted this as a fact.
I think teachers need to be required a much higher level of knowledge, understanding and skill in epistemology, the study of how information is arrived at, which is, after all, the subject they really need to be experts in, more than anything else.
I also think that the way they are currently expected to teach doesn't allow for enough flexibility for the students or the teachers, and places unnecessary burdens on them in terms of how much work teachers are expected to do outside of the classrooms, that they are not paid for, and that would probably be lessened by far, if they were given more room to use their own initiative.
I'm sure that you consider yourself an expert teacher and have no need of such education and maybe you don't. However, I've taught my sister how to understand powers in Mathematics, a basic of Arithmetic, in 5 minutes, and she told me afterwards that she never grasped that in 13 years of primary school and secondary school, an access course, and a year of university. The mind boggles when you can teach someone in 5 minutes what no-one else managed to, despite having a lesson in Maths every day for 13 years and then some. That is with no formal lessons in teaching. Just what I've picked up for myself, and some basic common sense in giving simple and clear explanations.
Would you administer the same psych tests on lawyers and doctors? I think we all could name a few who would probably have been weeded out of those areas as well. Harold Shipman was a doctor in the UK. He was convicted of 15 murders, and he could have killed anywhere between 215-457 patients. To be honest, there have been a LOT of cases of patients that were misdiagnosed, given the wrong treatment, and similar. One had the wrong kidney removed. One had a big surgical instrument left inside. There are enough cases where I think it should be mandatory. I think applying it to lawyers and anyone in a similar position of authority, like policemen and judges, makes very good sense to me. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/29/2008 11:50:17 PM | why is it so black and white when its a male whose the recognised adult, yet everyone looks for the grey when its a woman?.
disgusting | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 12:20:50 AM |
why is it so black and white when its a male whose the recognised adult, yet everyone looks for the grey when its a woman?
Men are held to a higher standard. It isn't exactly fair, but that's just the way things are. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 1:08:19 AM | "I think that we need to start making education a valued profession, like being a lawyer or a doctor..Then we could get enough candidates for teaching that we could afford to be choosy and only choosing the ones who pass such a test"
I think it would also help to raise the quality standards of admission to teaching degrees, if we want to turn it into a decent profession. Law and medicine have very high ethical and academic standards as well as pre-requisites to even get into the degree in the first place. I think standards in teaching seem to have slipped in the past 30-40 years (probably due to poor funding and neglect by the government, which is being taken up by the private sector). I think it would be good if teaching colleges raised their standards to the same level as other recognised and respected professions, such as law, medicine, engineering, or university academia. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 6:16:57 AM |
When you look at the job market, it turns out that more and more people are leaving high-paying jobs in order to take jobs that allow them more job satisfaction and to spend more time with their kids. So it only makes sense that there would be far more people interested in teaching.
Gigantic misconception - "teachers have more time???" A typical school day is 8 a.m-4 p.m., however, most teachers are also expected to coach, sponsor clubs, tutor or serve on advisory positions, which often keeps many of us on-site until 6. There are also hours spent grading, which usually involves at least half of one weekend day. Teachers don't have any more "time" than any other profession - it adds up to an average of 60-70 hours a week. Grading, if it's to be effective, thorough and provide the type of feedback that will help students learn, is far more time-consuming than you realize.
But we're crying out for teachers, especially in the Sciences. ...which is why the level of qualification falters and why the profession attracts so many who aren't suited for it.
It's got so bad that they keep running adverts trying to sell us on how wonderful teaching is. If knowledge and learning were valued as it used to be, teaching might be wonderful...instead we're expected to be in charge of weapons control, babysitting, and teaching morality (which should be a parent's job).
"Vocation" continues to conflict with "profession". If you look up the word "profession" you'll see that teaching is listed as an example...along with law and medicine, as an occupation requiring specialized training, systematic knowledge and regulation.
I'm sure that you consider yourself an expert teacher
I don't....which is why I and many other regularly seek additional training, pedagogy seminars and professional development. That's what a professional does...not a dilletante. What I do have is specialized training and advanced degrees in my subject area. There are those of us who take this seriously and who genuinely ARE qualified to do the job....and who tire of all the self-proclaimed "experts" around us who have never set foot in a classroom or experienced firsthand the inconsistencies of curriculum, text, diverse populations, lack of support, and time constraints under which to develop a system that works for the majority of those demanding a free education.
The mind boggles when you can teach someone in 5 minutes what no-one else managed to, despite having a lesson in Maths every day for 13 years and then some. That is with no formal lessons in teaching. Just what I've picked up for myself, and some basic common sense in giving simple and clear explanations.
What you are able to teach an adult sibling in 5 minutes, who has already been through school, in what is clearly an isolated, one-on-one, personal situation...is pretty far removed from teaching a group of 25-30 adolescents with raging hormones, little parent support and varying degrees of exposure, readiness, level of skill and interest. Public education is a problem, I agree with you 100% on this - and there are those in this profession who truly are neither qualified, nor suited to it...I agree with you there as well. It's not something that "just anyone" can do - or should do...but when you're "crying out for teachers", it's a given that you're going to have to settle for a lot of people who shouldn't be in the classroom. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 6:52:41 AM | I only remember two ~ teachers that I had that were hotties.
ofcoarse temptation only needs to come in ones.
At that age ~ Rosco's got a mind of his own ~ might wake up
at anytime and want to look around ~ kind of embrassing ~ loose
pants are nice.
The whole sorted affair seems so ~~ ricky.
It must be some very intense passion ~ is my guess.
I can only see this from a boy's point of view ~ my thoughts and experience
are gendered ~ To think it through farther ~ is purly conjecture.
I must require a woman's point of view to answer for the teacher in this case.
It doesn't sound like it was a planned to go that far `~ if so ~ it was poor planning.
We all know and understand the law ~ and the intent of the law ~ social acceptibality~
~ people will behave like people ~ thats why this keeps occuring ~ regardless of the resistance we offer it. ~
We want to provide a safe , healthy learning environment for our children.
This is a major distraction ~ maybe ` all teacher's need to be ugly!
But that sure take away a lot of the fun of going to school
~dar | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 1:16:03 PM | | I'm sure many a sixteen year old girl who had sex with her male teacher thought it was cool and a good experience, but that has never mattered she is not of age to give consent and furthermore, he is violating his position of trust over her, whether she thinks so or not. The same goes for boys, even if they are eighteen, it is completely inapropriate for sexual relations to be occuring with their teacher while they are students. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 1:53:36 PM | I would make an excellent teacher! This infuriates me to no end! I know I would make a great teacher.
On any given day, as my profile states, I am apt mgr/built in babysitter. I have up to 1o kids, boys and girls, all ages, coming and going. I help them with homework daily. I dicipline them (keep the peace). I'm very good. The kids listen to me. My girls had friends come over alot, our house was 'the one' to go to.
But!! I have to go get a certificate, go to school? Why? I can teach! How can I talk someone into giving me a job I would LOVE to do? since their 'crying out for teachers'.
Life experience isn't good enough? I have 20 years easily in life experience, plus the last 10 in apt/babysitter! I know the curriculum is already made up. All I have to do is follow it. Yes?
Im a solid citizen. Have the energy. Must be lots of others just like me! Who should be able to step into a job opening. But I can see how thrilled the parents would be to know this. I guess this is an idea for small towns. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 2:14:37 PM |
I think that we need to start making education a valued profession, like being a lawyer or a doctor..Then we could get enough candidates for teaching that we could afford to be choosy and only choosing the ones who pass such a test
Too bad we're not allowed to have a free market in education. Then only the best and brightest would be hired as teachers, they would be paid accordingly, and American kids wouldn't rank somewhere down in the double-digits amongst industrialized nations in terms of academic prowess and knowledge. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 5:26:59 PM | The boundaries between adults and teens/children have been breaking down for a few decades now. Even when I was growing up, it was still customary to address adults as "Sir" & "Ma'am". In most cases, you had a certain respect for adults, and adults weren't so needy for approval that they tried to relate to kids as peers rather than kids who still need guidance. Things have changed. Not too long ago, a colleague's 13-year-old punk kid addressed me by my first name and he didn't even know me--had only heard of me through his mom. The look I gave him froze him in his tracks. 
The sexual liaisons that we're seeing now (between teachers and students) are nothing new; but it's probably becoming easier and easier for today's teachers to cross those boundaries and connect inappropriately with kids for their own satisfaction. Some adults don't get that it's not beneficial to kids for us to be their peers. Kids need role models and authority figures, not adults who don't have the backbone to be adults around kids. Education curricula in universities should better emphasize the development of professional demeanor in teachers. | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 6:19:29 PM | She should be fired and be fined alot of $$$$.
There is no grey area here, she messed up in a big way, and she should have controlled her hormones but she didn't.
She should have to pay the student alot of $$$$. As a teacher, you are held to a much higher standard.
This happens way to offen and it should be minimized by using different control techniques.!  | |
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| Teacher accused of sex with student
Posted: 3/30/2008 6:45:07 PM | ^^pay the kid alot of money?? NO!! Can you imagine if that was the case? Wow, how many students would try that one out!!
And how many parents would push their kid to try that one out. No. Wouldn't work.
Teach is in enough trouble. Probably getting her psyche evaluation now , along with lawyers; IOW, her whole life has completely changed, forever, while his will be for a while, and he'll be 18 and legal pretty soon. What a freakin mess.  | |
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