A South Carolina math teacher threatened a teen’s grades if he refused to have sex with her, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Charleston.
The lawsuit alleges Jennifer Danielle Olajire-Aro, 27, “used her age and position of authority” to coerce the student to have sex with her. The student, listed as “John Doe” in the lawsuit, was 17 at the time, according to the court filing.
The Post and Courier in Charleston reported Olajire-Aro was arrested last year and charged with sexual battery of a student 16 or 17 years of age.
The lawsuit says the teacher coerced the teen into sex multiple times in November and December 2017, “including on school grounds, in her personal vehicle, and at her primary residence.” One of those times Olajire-Aro’s 10-month-old baby was present, the suit says.
Olajire-Aro taught math and was the tennis coach at Burke High School, according to the lawsuit. She had been in the job for less than a year, the suit says.
If the teen tried to refuse his teacher’s advances, the lawsuit states, Olajire-Aro “would remind Plaintiff John Doe that she alone controlled what grade he would receive in her class.” The teen had to skip his math class in order to avoid his teacher, according to the suit.
The student told his mother what had been happening with the teacher in December, according to the filing, and Charleston police arrested Olajire-Aro on December 19. The lawsuit alleged Olajire-Aro is still a paid employee of the Charleston County School District and school officials have not investigated what happened.
Charleston television station WCSC reported recently that Olajire-Aro has not been employed by the school district since January.
The Post and Courier reports Olajire-Aro was arrested three days before the end of the semester last December. Olajire-Aro received a $100,000 bond on the charges, according to The Post and Courier.
Charles Duncan: 843-626-0301, @duncanreporting
This story was originally published September 24, 2018 2:28 PM.