Cougars in the classroom: The alarming rate of teachers charged with raping young boys in America

Dozens of female teachers have been arrested this year across the nation for sex crimes involving students - as the seeming number of 'cougars in the classroom' continues to grow.

A long line of female teachers allegedly involved with youngsters across the country dominates headlines. 

DailyMail.com discovered that 25 female teachers had been arrested in 16 states in only the last 12 months - and it is feared to be merely the tip of the iceberg as there appears to be no centralized data collection to track this disturbing trend. 

In the last month, married New Jersey teacher Jessica Sawicki, 37, was arrested after cops found her half-naked in the back seat of a teen's car at a wildlife center. The mother-of-two allegedly admitted to police she and the student had 'unprotected' sex at least five times.

In Nebraska, 45-year-old Erin Ward was arrested after being caught naked in the backseat with a teen boy. The substitute teacher is married to a Department of Defense official and was quickly arrested at the scene by police. 

Married New Jersey teacher Jessica Sawicki, 37, was arrested after cops found her half-naked in the back seat of a teen's car at a wildlife center 

Erin Ward, 45,  substitute teacher from Omaha, Nebraska, and mom of three, was caught naked in a car with a teenage student earlier this month, allegedly confessed to having sex with a 17-year-old student

Many of the accused female teachers charged in the last year are married and one was even named teacher of the year. 

The teachers are enticing students with sexually-charged texts, nude photos and videos, before and during physical encounters, police say. 

Leading child psychologist Dr. Michael Oberschneider, of Ashburn Psychological Services, said social media influence has contributed to the abuse dynamic and rise in number of cases.

'Social media can serve to blur the lines between the student-teacher relationship, which can in turn open the doors to more inappropriate outcomes,' he said. 

He explained that students have more access to their teachers through various online formats, which can lead to inappropriate communication and even inappropriate relationships of a sexual nature.

'As we've seen in the news, some female teachers are choosing to put out sexually focused content on sites like OnlyFans, Loyalfans, Fansly and other similar platforms that students can then see and be part of,' Oberschneider explained.

He said even Instagram, and other social media platforms, allow students to see, and to possibly interact with, their teacher in more personal or intimate ways.

Another contributing factor,is the 24-hour news cycle as more of these cases are being reported, Oberschneider said.  

In his estimation, 80 percent of teachers who abuse students, are still predominantly male.

He explained the research shows, males are more opportunistic, more predatory and more aggressive with the motivation being focused on sex. 

While female teachers tend to be motivated, it seems, to abuse their students in different ways and for different reasons. It often revolves around emotional conflict, unmet intimacy needs, personal issues, loneliness and feelings of isolation.

Glamorous Missouri math teacher Hailey Clifton-Carmack, 26, faces several charges, including sexual contact, child molestation, statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child

Heather Hare, a teacher at Bryant High School, was charged with sexual assault in the first degree, after recent allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced with a student

Emma Delaney Hancock, 26, a former substitute teacher at Wellston High School in Oklahoma, had an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, whose father is Wellston Mayor Paul Whitnah, and Hancock's husband is the Wellston Police Chief

Fourth-grade English teacher, Alissa McCommon, 38; Stephanie Woods, 28, a biology teacher, tennis and basketball coach from San Antonio, Texas; Allie Kheradmand, 33, of Virginia; Allie Elizabeth Bardfield, a married mother of four from Illinois; Emma Delaney Hancock, 26, a former substitute teacher at Wellston High School in Oklahoma; Heather Hare, a teacher at Bryant High School; and Hailey Clifton-Carmack, 26, are just some of the teachers who have found themselves in headlines in recent months because of their arrests. 

Hancock, 26, a former teacher at the Wellston Public School district is accused of texting a 15-year-old in October 2022 to send him a school assignment.

After a few weeks the teen sent a shirtless snap of himself to Hancock via Snapchat, documents say.

Hancock responded saying, 'are we sending half naked pictures now?' the teen responding, 'I don't know, are we?' she then allegedly replied, 'Are you trying to get me to lose my job?' the documents say.

The affidavit then said Hancock and the teen began exchanging nude photos and videos of sex acts more frequently.

The messages later escalated into Hancock and the teen kissing each other on two occasions while in classrooms. Hancock is also accused of touching the teen inappropriately during the second time they kissed, according to the court filing.

Hancock is married to the town's Chief of Police Alfred Hancock and is  believed to be the daughter of Wellston Mayor Paul Whitnah.

Hare, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity and now faces up to life in prison.

Clifton-Carmack is pictured in a seductive pose from one of her many social media accounts

Hare had sex with the victim, a male student at Bryant High School in Arkansas , 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school year, including on a class trip to Washington DC

Hancock (left) is a prominent member in the community and is married to the Chief of Police Alfred Hancock (right)

Hare had sex with the victim, a male student at Bryant High School in Arkansas, 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school year, including on a class trip to Washington, DC.

Before her arrest and resignation from the high school in April of last year, Hare was cherished by her students. They even recorded a farewell video when her class was temporarily halted during the pandemic. 

Clifton-Carmack, 26, from Waynesville, near St. Louis, was arrested by the Garden Ridge Police Department on accusations of having a relationship with a 16-year-old high school student.

The sexual assaults are alleged to have taken place in Missouri's Pulaski County, about 800 miles away from where she was apprehended by cops.

In a further twist to the case, the teenage boy's father has also been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after it was claimed he knew that his son was in a relationship with the educator.

Court documents state that the teen and teacher had sex during school and used other students as 'lookouts.'

In Tennessee, 38-year-old Alissa McCommon, a fourth-grade teacher at Charger Academy in Covington was charged with raping one of her former students,  a 12-year-old boy, and is pregnant with the boy's baby.

McCommon, a mother of two, was arrested September 8 by the Covington Police Department and charged with felony rape of a child for reportedly molesting the boy, Tipton County General Sessions court records show.

Detectives found 21 possible victims linked to McCommon. In March, she pleaded not guilty to 23 new sex charges.

The charges are related to five of those victims, who range in age from 12 to 17.

In Arizona, three teachers from the same town - Alyssa Todd, Jessica Kramer and Diana Pirvu, were charged with committing crimes against students. 

Todd, 23, was arrested for 'inappropriate contact' between her and a student, making her the second teacher in seven months to be arrested for a sex crime at Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies High School in Buckeye.

In mid-September, 42-year-old teacher Kramer was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old male student at the same school.

And in October, a 23-year-old female teaching assistant, Pirvu, was accused of having 'inappropriate contact' with a 13-year-old student at a nearby Buckeye middle school, Imagine Schools.

In Arizona, three teachers from the same town - Alyssa Todd (left), Jessica Kramer (right) and Diana Pirvu, were charged with committing crimes against students. 

Pirvu, 23, was a teaching assistant at Imagine Schools, roughly six miles away from the Odyssey Institute, and was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old male student

The constant string of teachers in headlines, has left many educators frustrated with the epidemic. 

Lexy, 23, a teacher from Long Island, feels these predatory teachers give new teachers, like she is to the field, a bad reputation. 

 'It's extremely disturbing and disheartening to see all of these cases of young teachers abusing their power and taking advantage of young students,' she told DailyMail.com. 

'As teachers we go into it with full hearts ready to help students and get them ready for their future. You spend the entire day with them and for a whole year you truly get to know these students and I could never imagine someone going into teaching with the intention of hurting and abusing these students.'

But, a 53-year-old teacher that has been working in the New York City school district for more than a decade, said it so unimaginable with the age gaps and chalks it up as people not considered normal.

'I really don't think they give other teachers a bad name because it is so over the top,' the unnamed educator said. 

Business Insider's Matt Drange revealed in a recent report about the epidemic of teacher relationships many of the sordid details - including emoji-filled text messages, transcripts from investigations and disciplinary files. 

Drange said, the pages 'documented grooming and groping, the sharing of d**k picks and porn, sexualized comments in classrooms, oral sex in bathrooms, and statutory rape,' that in some cases continued for years.

His report highlights a disturbing pattern that 'school administrators across the United States catastrophically failing to prevent abuse,' and there is no federal agency, he said, that tracks teacher sexual misconduct. 

Drange said during his investigation, he requested disciplinary records and severance agreements from the ten largest school districts in all 50 states, and license revocations from every state's Department of Education, but his request was met with opposition.

Alabama, Iowa, and Virginia refused to release any records, he said. While other districts, asked to be compensated, in order for the request to be filled.  

In his report, he wrote that the Hawaii Department of Education asked for $75,060. The Katy Independent School District in Texas wanted $125,352, and the Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska invoiced $243,836.

While other districts, he revealed, never provided records, including Alaska's Bering Strait School District. In 2019, the BSSD paid $12.6 million to 13 sex abuse victims involving an instructor at the school.

Springfield Public Schools in Massachusetts, was another district he cited, that would not release any records and claimed it would be an 'invasion of the teachers' privacy outweighing any possible right of the public to know.'

Stephanie Woods, 28, a biology teacher, tennis and basketball coach from San Antonio, Texas was arrested after she allegedly had an improper relationship with a 17-year-old girl

Allie Kheradmand, 33, of Virginia, was arrested for having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student at James Madison High School that went on for several months 

Allie Elizabeth Bardfield, a married mother of four, from Illinois was accused of grooming and raping an 11- year-old boy

Fourth-grade English teacher, Alissa McCommon, 38, is charged with raping a 12-year-old child at her home in Tennessee

Between 2017 and 2022, at least 1,895 teachers have had unfavorable action taken against their credentials by state education licensing boards for sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships that may not be of a sexual nature, according to the nonprofit National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.

That figure is an underestimation since many states do not provide the reason why a teacher's credentials was suspended or revoked.

Jimmy Adams, Executive Director of the nonprofit told DailyMail.com of the 6,000 incidents that come in yearly, only a very small percentage is sexual misconduct. 

Billie-Jo Grant, Phd, a leading expert in school employee sexual misconduct prevention said in the last year there have been approximately 468 male and female reports of sexual misconduct involving students nationwide, and of that number 113 are female.

She told DailyMail.com the figure includes both licensed teachers, and other school employees including coaches, administrators, teachers aides, and bus drivers,