An alarming number of female teachers are being accused of sexually abusing underage students, and new cases are reported almost every week.
Earlier this month, 37-year-old married New Jersey teacher Jessica Saviciki was arrested after police found her half-naked in the back seat of a teenager’s car at a wildlife center. The mother of two allegedly admitted to police that she and the student had “unprotected” sex at least five times.
But she is just one in a long line of alleged female sexual predators targeting young people across the country, with alarming cases emerging from California to New York.
DailyMail.com found that 25 teachers had been arrested in 16 states in the last 12 months alone, and there are fears that this is simply the tip of the iceberg, as there appears to be no centralized data collection to track this disturbing trend.
Many of the defendants are married and one had even been named teacher of the year. In addition to sending text messages, nude photos and sexually charged videos, some are buying their victims’ silence with cash and expensive gifts.
But why have these cases apparently become so prolific in recent years? Speaking to leading child psychologist Dr. Michael Oberschneider of Ashburn Psychological Services, the influence of social media has contributed to the dynamics of abuse.
‘Social media can serve to blur the lines between the student-teacher relationship, which in turn can open the doors to more inappropriate outcomes.
He explained that ‘students now have more access to their teachers through various online formats, which can lead to inappropriate communication and even inappropriate relationships of a sexual nature.
‘As we have seen in the news, some female teachers are choosing to post sexually focused content on sites like Onlyfans, Loyalfans, Fansly and other similar platforms that students can view and take part in.
He said that “even Instagram and other social media platforms allow students to see and possibly interact with their teacher in more personal or intimate ways outside of the classroom.”
Another contributing factor, he shared, is that the 24-hour news cycle is part of that phenomenon we are seeing as more cases of this type are reported.
In his opinion, 80 percent of teachers who abuse underage students are still predominantly men,
He explains that research shows that males are more opportunistic and more predatory, more aggressive, and the motivation centers on sex.
While female teachers tend to be motivated, they apparently abuse their students in different ways and for different reasons, this has more to do with emotional conflicts, unmet intimacy needs, personal problems, loneliness, and feelings of isolation.
Glamorous Missouri math teacher Hailey Clifton-Carmack, 26, faces several charges, including sexual contact, child abuse, statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
Bryant High School teacher Heather Hare has been charged with first-degree sexual assault after recent allegations of sexual misconduct with a student surfaced. Hare, who is from Arkansas, turned himself in
Emma Delaney Hancock, 26, a former substitute teacher at Wellston High School in Oklahoma, had an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, whose father is Wellston Mayor Paul Whitnah, and Hancock’s husband is the head of Wellston Police.
Lexy, 23, a teacher from Long Island, believes these predatory teachers give new teachers a bad name, like her in the field.
“It is extremely disturbing and disheartening to see all these cases of young teachers abusing their power and taking advantage of young students,” he said.
‘As teachers, we do it wholeheartedly and willing to help students and prepare them for their future. You spend all day with them and for a whole year you really get to know these students and I could never imagine someone coming into teaching with the intention of hurting and abusing these students.’
But a 53-year-old teacher who has worked in the New York City school district for more than a decade said this is unimaginable with the age differences and seen by people who don’t consider themselves normal.
“I really don’t think they give other teachers a bad name because it’s so exaggerated.”
Business Insider’s Matt Drange revealed in his report emoji-filled text messages from teachers, handwritten complaints from students, transcripts of human resources investigations, and a huge number of pages of disciplinary records from educators investigated for sexual misconduct.
Drange said the pages “documented grooming and groping, sharing of penis selections and pornography, sexualized comments in classrooms, oral sex in bathrooms, and statutory rape,” which he said in some cases continued for years.
Her report highlights a disturbing pattern in which “school administrators across the United States are catastrophically failing to prevent abuse,” and there is no federal agency, she said, that tracks sexual misconduct by teachers.
Drang said that during his investigation, he requested disciplinary records and severance agreements from the ten largest school districts in all 50 states, and license revocations from each state’s education departments, but his request was met with opposition.
Alabama, Iowa and Virginia, he said, refused to release any records. While other districts asked to be compensated in order to cover the request.
In his report, he wrote that the Hawaii Department of Education asked for $75,060. Katy Independent School District in Texas wanted $125,352 and Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska billed $243,836.
While other districts, he revealed, never provided records, including Alaska Bering Strait School District. In 2019, BSSD paid $12.6 million to 13 victims of sexual abuse involving an instructor at the school.
Springfield Public Schools in Massachusetts was another district he cited that would not release any records, saying it would be an “invasion of teachers’ privacy that would override any potential public right to know.”
Stephanie Woods, 28, a biology teacher, tennis and basketball coach from San Antonio, Texas, was arrested after she allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
Allie Kheradmand, 33, of Virginia, was arrested for having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a James Madison High School student that lasted several months.
Allie Elizabeth Bardfield, a married mother of four from Illinois, was accused of battering and raping an 11-year-old boy; The young victim assisted police in undercover operations.
Between 2017 and 2022, at least 1,895 teachers have had their credentials taken against them by state education licensing boards for sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships that may not be sexual in nature, according to the nonprofit National Association of Teachers. State Directors of Teacher Training and Certification, or NASDTEC.
That figure is an underestimate since many states do not provide the reason why a teacher’s credentials were suspended or revoked.
Jimmy Adams, executive director of NASDETEC, said that of the 6,000 incidents that occur annually, only a very small percentage are sexual misconduct.
Billie-Jo Grant, leading researcher on sexual abuse in schools and president of McGrath Training Solutions, told DailyMail.com there is no government intervention tracking these incidents.
Between March 1, 2023 and March 21, 2024 there have been 113 arrests for contact or non-contact sexual misconduct involving students.
This number includes both licensed teachers and other school employees, including coaches, administrators, paraprofessionals, and bus drivers.
Erin Ward, 45, a substitute teacher from Omaha, Nebraska, and mother of three, was caught naked in a car with a teenage student earlier this month and allegedly confessed to having sex with a 17-year-old student at the same school. high school.
Fourth-grade English teacher, 38, accused of raping 12-year-old girl in her Tennessee home