HAMDEN, Conn. — A former Hamden teacher has been charged after police said she had sex with a teen and sent inappropriate messages in a group chat with students.
Dominique Maynard, 27, of New Haven, was charged with four counts of Sexual Assault in the Second Degree and four counts of Risk of Injury to a Minor. Maynard was held on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Meriden Superior Court on Friday.
Last November 10, police said they received a report about inappropriate text messages being sent between a teacher and a group of students ages 12 to 13-years-old, at the Booker T. Washington Academy.
School officials said they first learned about the messages through a parent.
"A parent did her due diligence and checked her child's phone and saw a communication that was inappropriate and brought it to my attention," said John Taylor, executive director of Booker T. Washington Academy.
Taylor said Maynard was immediately suspended, and subsequently fired within 36 hours. He said parents were also notified immediately and both students and teachers were provided with counseling support at that time.
"Both internally but also externally, engaging with families to seek support as needed," Taylor said.
Detectives with the Hamden Police Department’s Special Victims Unit conducted an investigation and said that Maynard sent inappropriate text messages to a group of students, including a 13-year-old male student. They said that Maynard engaged in sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old student, on more than one occasion, at the school.
"You never expect something like this to happen in your community. When you sign up to be a school administrator, this isn't what you're signing up for," Taylor said. "We do have policies in place that forbid adults from being alone with students behind closed doors," he said.
The school said it is now working to rebuild trust with its families and is continuing to provide support.
"We see our families as families and work really hard to build trust and something like that really does impact that so we're working hard to ensure that our families still face safe," Taylor said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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