A Georgia high school biology teacher has been arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with one of her students, including consummating their affair in a closet on school grounds.
Deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office took Maris Nichols, 25, into custody on two felony counts of “sexual assault by persons with supervisory or disciplinary authority,” numerous local news outlets reported.
Nichols, a teacher at Alexander High School and also a staffer with the school’s football program, is accused of sexual relations with the student on two occasions: once on April 23 in a school closet, and again on May 2 in a Hummer parked in a residential driveway, authorities said.
The high school is located in Douglasville, a city of 35,000 about 25 miles west of Atlanta. The school has a population of about 1,800 students.
The arrest represents yet another case of educator sexual misconduct that leading researchers say has become “rampant” in the U.S. in the past two decades, as Breitbart News previously reported in an exclusive investigation of the disturbing trend.
The Douglas County School System released a statement saying it was “deeply troubled” by the allegations.
“Upon learning of the alleged misconduct, the district immediately launched an investigation,” the statement read. “The Douglas County School System will continue to cooperate fully with state and local law enforcement. The district cannot provide additional information regarding the allegations. Any further inquiries should be directed to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.”
Nichols made her first appearance before a judge via video on Friday, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported, with the judge holding the teacher in the county jail on a $40,000 bond.
Educator sexual misconduct has been occurring regularly across the U.S. in districts large and small, in large cities and small towns, in public schools and private ones, Breitbart News reported in March.
Since a landmark study in 2004, rape or attempted rape by school personnel has increased by 100 percent. The social scientist who conducted that study for the Department of Education (DOE) said the problem “dwarfs” the sexual abuse scandal by Catholic priests in previous decades.
Weekly reports of teachers busted for the misconduct have raised the attention of the Trump administration.
This week the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights announced it was conducting an investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District for its official practice of “reassignment” of teachers accused of sexual misconduct to see whether the practice violates Title IX requirements “to protect teachers who cause life-changing harm to their kids.”
“The Los Angeles Unified School District appears to be protecting sexual predators at the expense of its students,” DOE said in announcing the probe.
Los Angeles school authorities have denied any wrongdoing, saying the accused teachers are “reassigned” to locations where they are not in touch with students while their case is investigated.
Veteran crime writer Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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