Posted on 02/19/2008 3:06:27 PM PST by traumer
LAURENS, S.C. -- A middle school teacher who admitted to sexually assaulting five students was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison.
Former Laurens County teacher Allena Williams Ward admitted the assaults when she pleaded guilty in September to three charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and three charges of committing lewd acts on a minor.
On Tuesday, Ward tearfully addressed the court and made a brief statement in which she said, "I deeply regret betraying the families' trust."
She asked the community to forgive her. The 24-year-old's father, a minister, also asked the court for forgiveness.
During the sentencing hearing, psychiatrist Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, who evaluated Ward said she has a sexual disorder and is "very childlike." She blamed Ward's childlike behavior on her strict, small-town upbringing.
Schwartz-Watts said journals Ward kept were like that of a 10th-grader. (Journal excerpts above right in sidebar) But she said that she does not feel that Ward is a pedophile.
Some of the victims' families attended the sentencing but did not speak during the proceeding.
Ward was sentenced to 15 years on the committing a lewd act on a minor charges, with that sentence suspended to six years. She was sentenced to six years on the criminal sexual conduct charges, with those sentences to run concurrently.
Eighth Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace said that Ward will serve 85 percent of the six-year term, which he called an appropriate sentence.
After being sentenced, Ward was led from the courtroom with her hands cuffed behind her back.
The sister of one of the victims said that she thinks justice has been served.
Ward Admits Sexual Assaults In Variety Of Locations With 5 Boys
Ward was a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Bell Street Middle School in Clinton when the assaults occurred in cars, parks, a hotel and at the school. She was 23 when she was arrested in March 2007.
The victims were three 14-year-olds and two 15-year-olds. The teens were students at Bell Middle and another school in Laurens County.
When she entered her guilty plea, she offered an apology to her victims.
"I publicly admit my guilt and would like to apologize," she told the court. "I sincerely apologize for the effects of my actions."
"It's no excuse. She was in a position of authority," Peace said after that hearing. "She had the trust of the community to teach kids right and do what you need to do around children to let them grow to be responsible adults, and she violated that trust."
Ward was fired when the allegations were made public in March 2007.
Karl Allen, an attorney for some of the teens, said that as law enforcement closed in on Ward last year, she sent text messages urging one of the boys to keep his mouth shut. Allen said that Ward was trying to keep the boys from talking to authorities.
The investigation that led to Ward's arrest started after a note she wrote to a male student was brought to the attention of school officials, Clinton Public Safety Chief John Thomas said.
School district officials said that students gave the note to administrators. The students "felt that the contents did not seem appropriate," school officials said.
After several students were questioned, police got involved.
Not guilty, but awfully young looking. Sheesh.
I would also say “not guilty”....
Bell Street Middle School in “Clinton”
This name keeps coming up regarding sexual deviance. Coincidence?
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Doing those three things would help a lot. Just giving advice in case she's reading this read. :O)
Why not guilty? I must have missed something.
Gee. Thats nice.
read = thread
Not like the language lab I recall.
“During the sentencing hearing, psychiatrist Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, who evaluated Ward said she has a sexual disorder and is “very childlike.” She blamed Ward’s childlike behavior on her strict, small-town upbringing.
Such a miscarriage of Justice! Obviously Not Guilty!
Well, I'd be telling everyone in the locker room...
You know, I really believe that much of the problem stems from having teachers almost as young as their students. I cannot remember a teacher I had in school that I wouldn’t consider a mature adult. Now they have ex-students coming back to teach in their own school when they are in their low twenties. These kids need to start out in the elementary school and not in their own high school or other high schools where there isn’t much age difference between the student and the teacher.
During the sentencing hearing, psychiatrist Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, who evaluated Ward said she has a sexual disorder and is “very childlike.” She blamed Ward’s childlike behavior on her strict, small-town upbringing.
Give me a break , read Christian , between the lines
I say she has the potential for being not guilty. I'd put her on supervised probation.
You're right, of course. The most difficult thing for young adults to do is supervise others who are only a few years their juniors.
The military has a technique for teaching leadership. They are in the business of making 20 year olds into responsible, caring leaders of 18 year olds.
The educational establishment lacks an analogous method or model of teaching leadership.
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