Ocean Valentine has been terminated amid allegations that she had sex with a 17-year old male student. When she was 22 years old, Valentine was employed as a classroom aide in a New York City school and connected with the boy on Instagram. The two started messaging each other on the social media platform. School officials claim that Valentine shared her personal cell phone number with him and their conversations became sexual in nature, until she started taking him to his parents’ apartment during school lunch period to have sex with him on several occasions. She was terminated following an investigation by school authorities.
Based on their findings, school administrators urged the New York City Department of Education to update their policies to prohibit school employees from communicating with currently enrolled students on social media or personal cell phones. Its current policy only discourages employees from communicating with students in that manner.
“Here we go again,” said Tom Blessing, education attorney and MJC partner. “If the allegations are true, this individual followed the same pattern I see all the time: befriending a student, earning his trust, getting closer and more intimate over time. It’s textbook grooming—laying the groundwork for a sexual relationship with a student.” Blessing was not surprised by anything in this story, especially the claim that school “officials were reportedly oblivious to the inappropriate affair” until alerted by a classmate.
According to Blessing, school policies are way too permissive about staff texting and talking with students on their devices. “When you have a policy which only limits staff/student communications on electronic devices to ‘school business’ or requires approval from the Principal, you’ve let the genie out of the bottle. The policy should prohibit such communications altogether, or require staff to use a designated, traceable platform which documents the substance of conversations.”
Blessing blames technology and the indifference of school administrators and parents for what he calls a disturbing trend in school sexual abuse cases. “Kids can look at anything and talk to anyone online, often with no supervision. My question is, Why are students allowed to have their cellphones at school in the first place? And don’t tell me ‘for emergencies.’ The answer is because phones and iPads have become the electronic babysitters for today’s generation of children. And adults don’t want to say ‘No,’ or at least set reasonable boundaries, whether it’s parents with their kids or school administrators with their employees.”
If you believe your child is the victim of sexual abuse at school, call 317/576-8580 for a free consultation.
Read more from the article here: New York High School Aide Fired After Allegedly Having Sex with Teenage Boy