ELMSFORD - A 24-year-old Lakeland High School social studies teacher was arrested early today after police said she was seen having sexual contact with a 16-year-old boy in her parked car behind an Elmsford restaurant.
Stephanie A. Gross of 3243 Amelia Drive, Mohegan Lake, was inside her car with the boy, whose identity is being withheld by police.
Lakeland school district officials this afternoon began preparations to fire her and said she would not return to the school.
An Elmsford police officer on a routine patrol observed Gross "straddling the victim" and kissing and caressing him in the car's passenger seat at 1:08 a.m. on Mortelliti Lane behind Rini's Restaurant, said Sgt. Stephen Woehrle.
No charges were filed against the teenager, Woehrle said.
Gross, who turns 25 later this month, has been charged with third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors. She was released on $1,500 bail and is next scheduled to appear in Elmsford Village Court on May 16.
Gross began teaching at several grade levels at Lakeland High School in September and is still on probation. Lakeland school officials said this afternoon that Gross would be facing termination, barring any new developments or information from the police that would exculpate her.
"The teacher will not be back on school grounds," said Lakeland's communications director, Jim VanDevelde. "We will wait for the police investigation to finish and we'll move on from there."
Gross called in sick today, according to the district.
Assistant Superintendent Ray Morningstar said the district would follow the legal process and seek to terminate the teacher next week.
"It's much different with a probationary teacher. It will be an abbreviated process," Morningstar said.
"The law is very explicit. On Monday, we'll have a conversation, what we can and cannot do with her. Bottom line is, she will not be coming back," said Morningstar. "Barring any new information, it's safe to say that action will be taken. "
District officials would not discuss whether the teenager was a Lakeland student.
"We're not in a position to say anything at all," Morningstar said.
There have been no other sexual incidents involving Lakeland teachers in recent memory, officials noted. Morningstar added that the encounter described by police took place well beyond the jurisdiction of the school district.
While she was in college at SUNY Oneonta, Gross was elected the student trustee on the State University of New York Board of Trustees in 2003. A double major in political science and secondary education, she had lofty ambitions at that time.
"First woman president? Sure, why not, if Hillary doesn't beat me to it," Gross told The Journal News at the time, referring to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
SOURCE 
Previous Topic
Index
