Gianna Bednarski has been identified as the Brazosport Independent School District teacher who was arrested and charged by police for allegedly having an illicit sexual relationship with a teenager.
According to Chief Wade Nichols with the Brazosport Independent School District, Bednarski was arrested without incident at her home on Tuesday, February 12.
When speaking to police, the unidentified victim said that he had sex with Bednarski in the classroom and that she sent him nude photos.
Following her arrest, Bednarski was taken to the Brazoria County Jail and officially charged with having an improper relationship with a student. Court records indicate that Bednarski was released a few hours later after posting $50,000 bond.
The Brazosport Independent School District released a statement confirming that Bednarski had been fired as a result of her charges Bednarski, who was hired in August 2018, officially resigned on January 17.
“After receiving information regarding a Brazosport High School teacher having an inappropriate relationship with a high school student, BISD police, administrators and local authorities began an investigation immediately and the teacher was placed on leave. As a result of the investigation, the teacher is no longer an employee in the district and has been arrested,” the districts read in part.
Bednarski is just the latest in a string of school officials or teachers that have been charged with alleged sex-related crimes in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida.
As for why there has been such a significant increase in instances of teachers having inappropriate relationships with students, researchers believe that technology is to blame.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available. If there is anything that we missed, please reach out to editor@teamcoed.com.
