MASSACHUSETTS
Lowell Sun
By Andy Metzger, State House News Service
UPDATED: 07/19/2017
BOSTON — In 2004, Dudley police investigated what they believed to be a crime: a sexual relationship between a 30-year-old English teacher and a 16-year-old boy who was her student.
It was not a crime, Dudley Police Chief Steven Wojnar told the Legislature’s Education Committee on Tuesday.
Since 2005, Wojnar said he has been advocating for a new law to bar adults in authority from sexual relationships with teenagers and he has been perplexed about why lawmakers have not put a statute on the books.
“Nobody’s explained why,” Wojnar told the News Service.
Salem Sen. Joan Lovely this session filed an omnibus bill (S 295) that specifically outlaws teachers and other school employees from sexually abusing high school students. Offenders could be punished with up to five years of imprisonment under the bill.
Lovely said she is unsure why the bill has not moved over the years, but she has a theory.
“I think this is such an uncomfortable subject that people don’t want to talk about it,” the senator told the News Service.
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