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Mom Of Minor In Teacher-Student Sex Case Speaks Out

Tribune file photo by JULIE BUSCH (2007)

Ex-teacher Jaymee Wallace asked for leniency at her court hearing in December, but was sentenced to three years in prison.

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By SAMARA SODOS

News Channel 8

Published: June 17, 2008

Updated: 06/17/2008 10:01 am

TAMPA - Growing tired of watching one teacher-student sex scandal after another hit the headlines, the mother of one minor involved in a case spoke publicly for the first time Monday.

In 2007, former Wharton High School teacher and coach Jaymee Wallace was sentenced to three years in prison and three years' probation for lewd and lascivious battery and unlawful sexual battery with a minor student.

That student's mother said more parents should report these crimes and assist the prosecution.

The mother and daughter's names are not being published because the victim is a juvenile.

"We can't change what happened," the mother said. "But we have to follow through. We have to demand justice. It might save a child. It might save an education. I mean, it's just worth fighting for."

Prosecutors said the relationship between Wallace and the woman's daughter began in 2003 when the victim was 14. The girl told Wallace that she was confused about her sexuality. In response, Wallace stapled a note to her math test.

"I find you attractive," the note read.

News of other recent cases of teachers and students having sex prompted her to speak, the mother said.

"The situation is on the rise," she said. "You see it every day: A teacher getting arrested for violating a student's rights. A teacher being let go because the parents of a victim don't want to prosecute. And that's what brought me to this point."

Though her daughter said the relationship with Wallace had been consensual, the law says otherwise, the mother said.

"There's no way a 14-year-old can consent to a relationship with an adult," the woman said.

At Wallace's sentencing, the mother said Wallace orchestrated a situation where she could be close to the teenager, conducted an illegal relationship then instructed everyone with knowledge of it to lie about it.

All this has devastated her daughter, the woman said. She lost some friends, had to transfer schools and didn't get to graduate with her classmates. She stopped playing basketball and other sports.

"She changed her whole direction," the mother said. Wallace "took that away from her. She took away her innocence. My daughter trusted her, and she deceived her."

She said Wallace's punishment was fair. However, when female teachers have been accused of having sex with boys, society tends to question whether the boys are harmed, she said.

"Let's not look at the gender," the mother said. "Let's look at the age. … Boy or girl, it's going to affect them, regardless. There is a double standard."

"It's happening all over," the mother said. "They just can't think it is just happening in Florida."

In domestic violence cases, prosecutors can still seek a conviction against a defendant even if a victim chooses not to cooperate. The mother said prosecutors should do the same in a sexual offense case when the parents of a victim or the victim chooses not to cooperate.

She said she understands why many parents and victims throw up their hands and give up. The rigors of a trial, the often slow judicial process and the public scrutiny can be frustrating.

"It is not going to be easy," she said. "It just angered me. You shouldn't give up. We were in our trial for 2 1/2 years. … People don't want to pursue. They're too embarrassed publicly. They don't want their children to go through it any more than they have to."

It's important to make an effort, the mother said.

"If you don't fight, nothing gets done," she said. If you don't prosecute, nothing gets done. How will you feel if you allow a sexual offender to walk out of a courtroom with nothing done and they go and do it again to another child? They won't stop there."

Tribune reporter Mike Wells contributed to this report.

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