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Another Teacher Facing Sex Charges

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By RAY REYES and JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 21, 2008

TAMPA - Mary Jo Spack met two Freedom High School students March 14 and took them to a liquor store, police said Thursday.

Mary Jo Spack

Spack, an honors English teacher at Freedom, then drove the students, ages 17 and 18, to a Howard Johnson motel on Fowler Avenue where they drank alcohol together, an arrest report states.

"Those kids were texting some friends that they were going to have a party at this motel," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. Three other students joined them in the motel room, McElroy said.

The 17-year-old told police he had sex with Spack in the shower.

"The other students who were in the hotel room overheard the sex act in the bathroom," McElroy said.

Spack, 45, of Wesley Chapel, was arrested Thursday at Freedom High. She is charged with one count of unlawful sex with a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

A teacher heard a student talking about the incident earlier this week and reported it to Freedom's administration, Hillsborough County School District spokesman Steve Hegarty said.

Spack was not the students' teacher, police said.

Allegations 'Shocking Every Time'

She is the second Hillsborough County teacher within a week accused of having sex with a student. Middle school math teacher Stephanie Ragusa was arrested March 13 and accused of having sex with a 14-year-old at least three times from January to May 2007. Ragusa, 28, was released from jail Tuesday after posting $12,500 bail.

Spack was released from Orient Road Jail at 8:26 p.m. Thursday after posting $8,500 bail. A phone call to the Spacks' home was not returned Thursday night.

"It's still shocking every time," Hegarty said Thursday about the recent teacher arrests. "The schools are shocked. We're shocked."

Spack was suspended with pay Thursday, Hegarty said. She will be sent a letter from the school board informing her not to go to work. She also faces the possibility of being suspended without pay pending a vote by the school board, Hegarty said.

Spack was hired in 2000 to teach English, speech and drama at Chamberlain High School, according to her application to the school district.

"My philosophy of education has grown and matured into what is now a strong desire to create in my students the aspiration to become life-long learners," Spack wrote in her application.

She transferred to Freedom in 2004, Hegarty said. District officials will examine her personnel records today.

Students Surprised By Arrest

Students at Freedom told a reporter on Thursday they were surprised at Spack's arrest.

"I thought it was for something else," student Shaakier Johnson said. "I didn't think she was actually having sex with kids. I thought maybe she didn't pay her taxes."

Spack interned at Land O' Lakes High School in 2000 and was supervised by teacher Tanya Fuss, who said Thursday she only worked with Spack and did not know her well. Fuss said the arrests of Spack and Regusa were disturbing.

"I'm horrified to hear that yet another teacher is accused," Fuss said.

Spack was arrested by Pasco County sheriff's deputies in 1994 on a charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license, Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show. She pleaded no contest and paid $105 in court costs. Information about her arrest was included in her application to the school district.

Prior to her arrest Thursday, Spack had no other misdemeanor or felony criminal records in Pasco or Hillsborough counties, records show.

Spack graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Florida in May 2000 with a bachelor's degree in secondary English education, according to her resume. Before she was a teacher, Spack worked in hotels and restaurants in Texas, Tennessee and Florida, she wrote in her resume.

Reporter David Sommer, News Channel 8 reporter Lynn Carson and researcher Stephanie Pincus contributed to this report. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes.com.

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