An educator in Buckeye was arrested on Wednesday was arrested for having an illegal sexual relationship with a minor student, marking the third arrest of a former Maricopa County teacher for sexual offenses against students.
The Buckeye Police Department (BPD) confirmed the arrest Alyssa Todd, who was employed as a coach and teacher at the Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies (OIAIS) High School when police claim she sexually abused a 15-year-old male student.
A press release by law enforcement claims communications between Todd (pictured above) and the minor suggested “the abuse had occurred on and off campus for at least two months.”
A former teacher is in jail accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old male student. Buckeye police arrested 23-year-old Alyssa Todd yesterday on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual conduct with a minor. More info: https://t.co/gJV3OX3Sjj pic.twitter.com/7OfVNKRFVE
— Buckeye Police Dept (@BuckeyeAZPD) March 21, 2024
Though Todd appears to be the first Maricopa County educator arrested for sexual crimes against children this year, BPD announced the arrest of former Buckeye teaching assistant Diana Pirvu in October 2023.
Pirvu was arrested on child molestation charges after BPD reported finding evidence of sexual abuse in communications between the educator and her alleged victim, who police stated was a male student aged just 13.
One month prior, in September 2023, BPD announced the arrest of Jessica Kramer following claims she sexually abused a 17-year-old male student at OIAIS. Kramer previously taught at the school. Kramer was accused of beginning the abuse in August 2022, and BPD noted in their press release that she resigned from the school by October 2022.
The arrests come amid a nationwide focus on the availability of sexually inappropriate reading materials in classrooms and school libraries across the country.
A report published in 2023 revealed Democratic lawmakers privately negotiated with the country’s leading teacher’s unions to craft legislation that would hamstring the ability of local school boards and officials to remove such materials from classrooms and libraries.
More recently, the federally funded National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced a two-week summer program titled “LGBTQ+ histories in the U.S.” that will educate a collection of teachers from across the country on how to integrate “queer” content into their classrooms.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
