A New Jersey high school teacher was arrested Friday on charges that he promised at least two students better grades if they sent him lewd pictures of themselves, prompting the necessary question: Were teachers always this nasty?
NorthJersey.com reports that Jose Maria of Passaic High School was taken into custody and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct. According to court documents, the 39-year-old engaged in inappropriate conduct with two of his teenage students between 2010 and 2012.
Investigators said that Maria would pick up two students and buy Chinese food and alcohol for the teens. Maria, who taught Spanish, allegedly offered one of the boys a better grade in exchange for photos of his penis. The student told authorities that he searched for pictures of a black penis on the internet and sent them to Maria as though he had taken a picture of himself.
Prosecutors say that the creepy relationship ended when the mother of one of the teens found the inappropriate text messages and confronted the teacher about it. (Because the child was black, we assume “confronted” means there was—at the very least—some chair throwing and a few suggestions of what the mother would do to Maria if she ever saw him, which is probably why the court’s affidavit of probable cause states that Maria admitted to his actions and “asked for forgiveness,” stating that he would kill himself.)
Maria’s salary of $75,513 will be ... wait. The next part of the story can’t be correct because it says Maria will still receive his salary and is only suspended. I’m pretty sure that’s wrong. Hold up while I check on it.
I guess it’s true. According to Keith Furlong, a spokesman for the Passaic School District, the suspension is required to be with pay despite the fact that Maria admitted to law enforcement officers that he asked two students for dick pics.
The Root could not confirm reports that the Passaic School District has received job applications from a number of high-profile celebrities, including Roy Moore, Kevin Spacey and R. Kelly.