Judge Criticizes Teacher’s 90-Day Suspension After Attempt to Seduce 15-Year-Old Student

In New York, State Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam called a recommended 90-day suspension of a teacher who attempted to seduce a student “irrational” and too lenient. A teacher at Staten Island’s New Dorp High School, Colleen McGraham, 39, repeatedly contacted the 15-year-old students who spurned her advances. Given this record, it is hard to see how 90 days is an adequate punishment when McGraham took steps to contact and pursue the boy.

McGraham appears obsessed with the boy, even writing in her blog in June 2005, “Will I ever get over this? Do I want to? I just love him so much.” While no physical contact results, McGraham sent the 11th grader e-mails, called him and tried repeatedly to pick him up. The boy reported the misconduct to another teacher.

An arbitrator recommended the light punishment — apparently based on the absence of physical contact. That is hard to understand since it was the boy’s maturity not the teacher’s judgment that prevented an act of child molestation.

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