A Long Island high-school teacher has been busted and charged with raping her 16-year-old math student, police said.
Heather Kennedy, 25, who teaches at Wantagh HS, had sex with the boy in his car last week in the parking lot of another area high school, Nassau Detective Lt. Richard Zito said.
The teen, a junior, sent a text message to Kennedy last Wednesday night, asking to get together, said Zito.
Police said he picked up his teacher in his car and they “drove around for a while. They were together for a few hours.”
At some point, Zito said, they stopped in the parking lot of Massapequa HS. That was when the teen – whose name was withheld – asked his teacher, whom he had known since last September, if she wanted to have sex and she agreed, cops said.
The tryst was discovered the next morning after the student’s father grilled him about coming home late, said Zito.
It was then that the boy came clean about the alleged encounter with Kennedy.
The dad called cops on Tuesday, and Kennedy was arrested the next day.
Zito said the sex was “a one-time event” and detectives had not uncovered any evidence of any other sex with other students.
Kennedy was arraigned yesterday at Nassau County First District Court in Hempstead, where a judge set bail at $35,000 bond or $15,000 cash bail on charges of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
The suspect’s parents posted her bail, and she was released about an hour later. She refused to comment.
A woman at her home in Massapequa, who identified herself only as an aunt, said Kennedy “is a fantastic person and loves her job. We’re shocked.”
Several students yesterday also praised Kennedy as a helpful and friendly faculty member and expressed doubt that the charges were true.
“I’m really shocked. She’s an amazing teacher,” said student Greg Malinowsky. “She’s willing to do anything with the students.”
“It’s just so hard to believe,” said Kayla Jacobson, 18, who said Kennedy’s recommendation helped her get into college.
Kennedy was suspended with pay.
“The teacher has been immediately administratively reassigned out of the classroom to her home, pending the outcome of the investigation,” said school spokeswoman Debbie Shor-Casper.