FLORIDA
Daily News
By Aleese Kopf
Daily News Staff Writer
Parents of Rosarian Academy students expressed shock and disbelief Friday over allegations that a former fourth-grade teacher had sexually abused two girls.
The teacher, Stephen J. Budd, 51, of West Palm Beach, remains in the Palm Beach County Jail. He was arrested after the girls told West Palm Beach police that during the 2006-07 school year, starting when they were 9 years old, that Budd had rewarded them in exchange for sex acts.
“I’m shocked because that’s not the person that I knew,” said Steve Suglia, parent of a former Rosarian student. “It makes me sick to my stomach. My daughter came home from school and was almost in tears because it was all over social media.”
Suglia said his daughter attended Rosarian from kindergarten through fifth grade, and was in Budd’s homeroom class. He said he knew Budd to be an “excellent” teacher who helped his daughter improve her grades in English.
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