Howard County police have charged a female high school teacher with having sex with a 15-year-old boy ? the third teacher sex crime reported in Howard public schools this year.
“Obviously this is highly unusual, and it is disturbing,” said Howard County schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan.
The boy, now 17, recently told a therapist he had a sexual relationship with Kirsten Ann Kinley, 27, of Columbia. At that time, she was a special education teacher at Hammond Middle School.
The boy met Kinley, who was not his teacher, through a friend, said police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.
He told police that in December 2004 he had multiple instant-message conversations with Kinley, including one where she asked if he was a virgin and told him she wanted tohave sex. During that same time, Kinley reportedly sent the boy nude photographs of herself via e-mail.
He and Kinley had sex on two occasions in her home, once in late 2004 and again in early 2005, according to charging documents. After those incidents, she continued to send the boy sexually explicit photographs, the charging documents said.
Kinley was charged Thursday with two counts of third-degree sex offense, two counts of fourth-degree sex offense and two counts of solicitation of a minor. She was released on a $75,000 bond and is on administrative leave from her current position at Marriotts Ridge High School pending the outcome of the investigation.
Kinley is the third Howard County teacher charged with a sex crime since January.
Last month, police arrested Glenelg High School teacher Joseph Samuel Ellis, 25, of Elkridge, after two girls, 16 and 17, told officers he sent them inappropriate text messages, exposed himself and touched them on separate occasions.
Former River Hill teacher Alan Meade Beier, 52, of Columbia, also was indicted on charges of sexual abuse against three students earlier this month.
But the recent reports are not indicative of a trend of child sex abuse in the county, but of a changed climate in the school system, school officials said.
“Maybe what?s happening is that the kids are hearing what?s being reported and are more comfortable coming forward,” said School Board Member Diane Mikulis.
Mikulis also defended the school system?s screening process for new hires.
“All of our hires go through a background investigation, [but] I don?t see anyway you can investigate everything that everyone does outside of the school,” she said.
Three former Baltimore County teachers have been charged with sex abuse crimes, prompting school officials to propose adding another full-time investigator tothe staff.
Examiner Staff Writer Joe Palazzolo contributed to this report.
