Epidemic of women abusers in schools
Mar 24th, 2008 by jjp
By Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer
Published Thursday, March 20, 2008 10:52 PM
TAMPA — “Sex,” “teacher” and “student” meet again.
A 45-year-old high school honors teacher was arrested Thursday, accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy.
Police say Freedom High School English teacher Mary Jo Spack, 45, met two male students at a liquor store last Friday, then took them to a Tampa motel, where she had sex with one of them in the shower as four other students overheard in the next room.
Spack’s arrest, police said, was spurred by rumors at the school. The boy’s boasting about having had sex with a teacher eventually caught the attention of a school resource officer, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
This latest teacher scandal comes one week after another female Hillsborough County teacher was arrested after being accused of having sex with a 14-year-old from Davidsen Middle School, where she taught.
Thursday’s news prompted one Hillsborough County School Board member to request a special meeting or workshop to discuss the recent rash of teacher sex scandals.
“I think the public feels this is an epidemic, and I’m very concerned about it,” said School Board member April Griffin.
Four Hillsborough teachers have been arrested in the last five months for inappropriate sexual contact with students. Three of those teachers were women.
Two other female teachers, former Greco Middle School teacher Debra Lafave and former Wharton High teacher and coach Jaymee Wallace, are serving out sentences for charges they had sex with underage students.
“I’m just sick to my stomach about what’s going on in our schools at the moment,” Griffin said. “Is this Hillsborough County, or is this something that’s going on across the nation?”
For a list of recent abuses, see this.