Lindsey M. Halstead, a 29-year-old New York state teacher, has been arrested and charged for alleged sexual contact with a teenager. It is not clear at this time whether the unnamed victim was a student of Halstead’s.
Halstead, a 29-year-old from East Bloomfield who was teaching in the Waterloo Central School District, was arrested on Tuesday, May 14, and charged with two counts of sexual misconduct and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. Both charges are misdemeanor charges.
Following an investigation, police accuse Halstead of having sexual contact with a 16-year-old.
Halstead, a physical education teacher, worked in the Waterloo Central School District from September 2014 until February of 2018.
In a statement, Waterloo Central School District Superintendent Matthew Sickles said the districting is cooperating with authorities and that student safety is “of the utmost importance”.
“The school district is fully cooperating with the New York State Police and is unaware of any alleged misconduct involving Midlakes students or any alleged misconduct occurring on our campus. The safety and security of our students is of utmost importance and all reports of any kind are treated seriously,” Sickles’ statement reads.
The New York State Police has since asked anyone who believes they have information about this case to contact authorities at (315)-539-3530.
Halstead is just one of many education officials to be arrested and charged for inappropriate contact with an underage student 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. Additionally, Texas teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
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 at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.