By BRIAN ABERBACK and KIBRET MARKOS , STAFF WRITERS
An award-winning Teaneck teacher was arrested Friday and charged with having sex with an underage student, including frequent encounters in his classroom, the men’s faculty bathroom and the dean’s office.
James Darden, a 36-year-old English teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was being held on $250,000 bail at the Bergen County Jail after turning himself in Friday morning. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated sexual contact, child endangerment and official misconduct. If convicted at a trial, he could face up to 20 years in prison for the most serious offense.
The former student, now 21, told authorities that she and Darden had a sexual relationship from the time she was a 13-year-old eighth- grader until she was a 15-year-old high school sophomore, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said, adding that the case developed only recently.
The prosecutor also raised questions about student safety in the Teaneck school district.
“I have to wonder about security in the building and how something like this can take place as frequently as it did over such a long period of time the way it did,” Molinelli said at a news conference. “It concerns me, and I hope tonight it concerns some school board members in Teaneck at least I hope so.”
Schools Superintendent John Czeterko said he didn’t immediately consider security an issue.
“We value teachers who stay after school,” the superintendent said. “He was a valued and trusted employee. If he violated that trust, we’re stunned.”
Czeterko said letters were being sent Friday to Thomas Jefferson parents explaining what happened. Counselors would be available at the school on Monday to talk with students, he said. A meeting with parents is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Darden, of Cliffside Park, an eighth-grade teacher who has worked at Thomas Jefferson for 10 years, was suspended with pay from his $62,242-a-year job Friday.
Parents and former students expressed shock, disbelief and horror.
By all accounts, Darden is revered a demanding but inspirational educator who holds students to high standards and makes their education his top priority.
“He’s the best teacher we’ve ever had,” said Andrea Thompkins, whose son is in Darden’s class this year. “I can’t give the man enough accolades. I’m shocked.”
“He just put his students first before other things,” said high school sophomore Josh Levinsky, a student of Darden’s two years ago. “He was really tough, but a good tough. He made people want to succeed.”
In June 2005, a group of parents proclaimed Darden their unofficial teacher of the year. Four months later, he received a prestigious Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. Up to 100 teachers each year are recognized by the foundation for their efforts in furthering excellence in public education.
“You know that I constantly push you,” Darden told students the day he received the $25,000 award. “Understand that I have high expectations for myself as your teacher, and I have the same high expectations for you, just like all of your other teachers.”
The Milken Foundation doesn’t keep track of how teachers use their award money, said Bonnie Sommers, the foundation’s vice president of communications. Teaneck school officials said they also didn’t know.
Molinelli said the trysts were conducted in various places, including in Darden’s car and at his former home in Plainfield. The woman said Darden also instructed her to masturbate via a Web camera that he gave her.
Molinelli described her as a “bright, energetic person who did well in school and was an honor student.”
“This is obviously something that she lived with at least since she was 13,” he said. “At this point in time, for whatever reason, she chose that this was the best thing for her life and for her welfare to come forward.”
Over the past month, detectives obtained additional evidence to corroborate the alleged victim’s statement, the prosecutor said. He declined to elaborate, however.
A source with knowledge of the case said Darden made incriminating statements online with investigators impersonating the woman.
Wearing a jail-issued uniform and shackled at the waist and ankles, Darden said little and showed little emotion at a hearing Friday in Superior Court in Hackensack – other than to shake his head briefly when the charges were read.
Darden came to court without an attorney, telling Judge Harry G. Carroll that he couldn’t afford one. The judge advised him to apply for a public defender.
The arrest comes nearly one year after authorities arrested former Teaneck High School Principal Joe White for allegedly engaging in a graphic sexual conversation with a student. White, who was charged in June, was recently offered a plea bargain through which he would serve one year in jail.
He has not decided whether to accept it. White was acquitted of molestation charges against a different student in 2003.
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E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]
(SIDEBAR, page A01)
Defendant: James Darden, 36, Cliffside Park
Occupation: Eighth-grade English teacher, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Teaneck
Charges: Allegedly had sex with an underage female student over a three-year period in the school and elsewhere. Faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious count.
Honors: Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, 2005. Revered by parents and students.
Status: Held on $250,000 bail; suspended with pay.
(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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