Israeli teacher fights dismissal over sexual affair with teen
Education ministry starts disciplinary action against secondary school educator after she slept with young student
Israel’s education ministry has initiated disciplinary action against a female high school teacher who admitted to sleeping with her teenage male student, but was never indicted.
Police and the prosecution service determined last year that they had no evidence that the teacher broke the law. But the education ministry initiated disciplinary proceedings against her that may result in her permanent dismissal and voiding of any state-recognised teaching certificate in her possession, Ynet reported Friday.
The teacher and the adolescent from a school in Israel’s south had the affair two years ago, when she was 28 and he was 16, Ynet reported Friday. Neither the school nor the teacher have been named in by the Israel media. The teacher had been the boy’s homeroom teacher two year prior to the affair.
Michael Buskila, the teacher’s lawyer, said she regrets having sex with the pupil but insisted that she did not “violate disciplinary rules” because she was not his homeroom teacher at the time of the affair.
The disciplinary action revealed that police and prosecutors had text messages that suggested a romantic and sexual relationship between the teacher and the 10th grader, even though authorities cited the absence of evidence in deciding not to indict.
One message from the teacher to the student, who used to attend her class when he was in 8th grade, read: “If you end up having time come over before three, I’m in bed.”
The two had “full intercourse,” according to the disciplinary committee reviewing action against the teacher, who was married at the time of her affair with the student.
She also wrote: “I love you, my love knows no bounds,” and: “Nothing is worth ruining our relationship.” In another message, she wrote: “I’m in love with every part of you, each and every centimetre, actually.”
Last year, a 36-year-old male teacher from Herzliya was indicted for statutory rape for allegedly having consensual sex with a 16-year-old female student.
In 2013, a Haifa court convicted of sexual abuse charges a 50-year-old female teacher who admitted to having consensual sexual relations with a 15-year-old female student.
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