There is a difference between "present in the home" and "present in the room." Stop trying to sensationalize this nonsense and give the facts. Journalists stink these days.

totally agree

Lucky kid............

Hey, If yer old enough to be someones PARENT legally, that is 18 or over, you are WAY TOO OLD TO BE having intercourse with them. Shame on this old lady taking the beauty of the youthful innocents away.

of course, the child was home. he lives there. I'm sure the lady, albeit sexually deviant lady, wasn't putting on a performance for her two year old.

I know what she did was wrong,but 186 years.Murders get less time.

doesnt matter about looks, sexuality, nope. this is an individual with moral turpitude. Crimes against another. (alleged). now on PAID leave. If convicted a lien placed tp liquidate any pay made to the subject during said acts and review. Then sanctions paid out......i would never want a burger handled by same, would you?

look hate to say it, but this has been going for years, it's not like it's something new the media is making a big deal about it i tried to pick up on one of my teachers too, maybe this" kid " did too and was successful, you know to take an older woman is something "boys" do brag about........

186 years for diddling a kid that agreed to it? yeah,sure...makes sense. On his next birthday he can make the decision to join the Army and get his limbs blown off,but right now he cant decide to screw his teacher.who makes these rules?

What the heck is going on? Why is the happening all around the country? What is wrong with these women? I swear there needs to be some kind of psychological testing before giving people teaching certificates. Why on each would she want to have a sexual relationship with a kid? Absolutely makes no sense whatsoever. It just seems more and more you're seeing this about female teachers.....something really needs to be done...I say start with the psychological testing.

BTW 186 years is ridiculous, murderers don't get 186 years. She didn't kill anybody, what she did was absolutely wrong, and she need to pay the piper, but not to the tune of 186 years, she also needs therapy.

This teacher can relax! Only male teachers get large amounts of time in the big house nowadays. She is likely to get 186 DAYS, not years, of home incarceration (without teenage male students). Her record will be expunged. The teachers union will not only preserve her job but within two years she will likely be promoted to assistant principal. And, her paid administrative leave will last longer than any of us would like. I hope she learns a lesson from this other than "to not get caught".

Let me see if I have this right in this Twilight Zone nation I live in. This is getting national attention, a lucky 17 year old (wish that was me when I was 17) gets laid by a hot teacher whose 2 year old kid was in the same house, she face over a 100 years in jail as a result. Dick (Herman Goring) Cheney makes millions in stock profits over govt contracts awarded to contractors in Iraq that he just so happen to have owned stock in while 5,000 brave GI's die and over 1 million innocent Iraqi civilians die as well. Instead, Cheney gets to write a book and go on tour and by the way, this monster has not donated a penny from the proceeds of his shameless book to ANY vet group. Rather than the media focusing on a freaking war criminal monster like (5 draft deferments) Cheney, they focus on a hot female teacher who fulfilled a red blooded 17 year old boy's fantasies. AND THEY ASK ME WHY I DRINK!

Paid to get Laid leave

It sound like we have another rapist. Rape is rape the teacher knew better! So it okay to rape a teenager? It the same as holding a gun to someone head and forcing them to have sex rather they want to or not.

Before anyone wets their panties, I don't condone the actions of this teacher. However, I personally think the kid is harm more by the traumatic experience of having to sit before a room full of adults and talk about what he did with that person. I can almost guarantee you that he felt great havig sex with that woman.

What do you expect from one of those west coast tree hug'ers?

Actually the age of consent varies. Some states a young person can consent at age 14. Most the age is 16. Very few have an age of consent as high as 18 any more.

I know many students who had sex with one or more of their teachers. This is nothing new and not uncommon at all. I had sex with several teachers while I was in high school. Welcome to the real world!!!

I was out of school and in the Navy at 17......I came home on leave and took out my old English Teacher.....I picked her up Friday after school and took her back Monday.....She taught me more than Engilsh that weekend...She was in her late 20's was that wrong ???? Now I've been married for more than 25 years and my wife is 7 years younger than me.....When we met she was 20...but the state we were in she still needed her parents to consent or wait till 21.......So tell me where do you draw the line ???? Drop charges and get on with life.......

Where were these teahers when I went to school, dam......

Worth pointing out that she's accused of the crime and has not been convicted.

I just dont get it. What has happened to the women today that makes them risk everything for sex with a kid? This is happening over and over like its some kind of fad or something? Can anyone explain this?

This woman must have been under a rock for the last 10 yrs. How many of these have been in the news recently. The age diff doesn't really matter, what matters is that he was HER student or a student under her charge. Betcha he got an "A" in that class.
She is certainly not a "hot" Teacher, average at best.

They really need to stop with this stuff. It's a waste of ink and they could've used the paper for real news. The kid is 17 and no longer her student. He's just one of the lucky few! I like someone else that commented was in the Navy at 17.It didn't say the child was in the room, you can have sex with a child in the house. And then, she's facing 186 years in prison,LOL, I don't think Jeffrey Dahmar got that much time. What does she have poison ivy between her legs?

How is it that this woman faces up to 186 years in prison when people murder each other and do things 10 times worse than this and get 10-20 years? Quite the justice.

This kid will look back and see a picture of this woman and think Oh My how could I have done such a thing. Am sure this poor woman had no other way to get a mate but to trick them into something. She needs to find someone her own age for a playmate. That will be difficult, considering her looks.

And when was this young man (no, he isn't a child) going to turn 18? Too bad they couldn't have waited a few months. I think it's crazy to prosecute this woman. Until the sh.. hit the fan, the guy probably thought he was the luckiest man around.

Drop the charges and let them be lovers if this is what they want, you don't hear those two complaining, its the 20th century. Yhat lucky boy.

Today, "under age" children know more about sex than some adults. Young as some 14 yr olds doing things and not calling it "sex". Even Prez Clinton said it was so. Most all male 16-17 yrs old, have raging hormones. The wind blows, he's ready. Sees a girl, he's ready, Wakes up, he's ready.
That's the attraction for the "older" female teacher, instant reliability and his machine like focused mind. As we men get older, quality goes up but the instant attention, goes down along with body toning. We get there, only it takes longer to recover.
Rape? huh? He can't be raped in that sense of the word. He aware of his doings, just may not think it's wrong to do it with his teacher. After all, that what she does, teach and he is a willing student. Ms Hottie doesn't want to wait, she wants to get busy!

I doubt there's a seventeen year old guy on this planet that doesn't want to have sex. Most of them have by then, anyway. That "poor baby take away his innocence" is nonsence. And 187 years in prison for her.........what is that about? You can join the army at seventeen but heaven you perform the most natural act of the human race

RS
Some of you people have the mind of a small plant. Can't spell, no knowledge of anything and even less common sense.
Sex has been around since the beginning of time. It drives all human psyche. This is about a horny woman who is no longer his teacher and he no longer lives in that school district, so the school shouldn't even be part of the picture. This didn't happen there.
And, I agree, how many young men, about the same age, are getting blown up, in the name of justuce for our country, but a 17 year old can't have sex with whomever he wants. So this encounter has damaged this person...the contrary, his ego is bigger than ever.
She should have killed him. She would have a better chance of a lighter sentence.
This is about as ridiculus as the 17 year old, having sex with his 15 year old girlfriend, and he going to jail. 17 year olds have forever been screwing anything that moves. What does the age of the woman matter when the age of the boy is a few months away from being old enough to do anything he wants to do.
And, as far as this woman's child being in the house at the time...does every married couple or unmarried for that matter, that has young children, go out in the driveway and get in the back seat of their car to have sex? I think not!
If this would have been a much younger child, then we have a much different situation.

First, the only problem I have with what occurred is that she was in a position of authority, if power in the students life. However, I have no issues with them having sex, eve at his age. And the earliest I can remember is just before my 4rth birthday, in small snippets of pictures of where I lived and a few other things around me. I had teachers in high school and in Jr high that if the opportunity presented itself -- HELL YEAH!

I wanted to have sex with my teacher since I was in kindergarten.

lust makes people STUPID

186 years for consensual sex, and yet the criminals in our government who orchestrated the 2003 Iraq war and the bankers who brought down the financial markets and destroyed the world's economy walk free. Incredible.

franklinmom

What happened to teachers knowing where to draw the line? Teachers are given authority to TEACH our children READING, WRITING AND ARITHMATIC, not SEX, FOREPLAY AND LYING. This woman knew better and she was the one in the authoritative position. She deserves to be punished but not to the tune of 186 years. I feel like should have to make a formal apology, and attend sexual predator
therapy. What she did was wrong in the eyes of the law and GOD!

I feel for this teacher somewhat. Being the teacher she definitely should not have had sex while the kid was a student where she taught. On the other hand he was 16 and 17 meaning he was old enough to know what he was doing. You going to tell me that most guys in high school would not like to bang there nice looking teacher of midage. He got his wish and she had fun, but she is going to end up in jail. She will get sentenced to way too much time though. Plus she will have to register as as sex offender probably for the rest of her life. That in it alone is a bad punishemnt for what she did.

This world is so screwed up sometimes.
Maybe she should lose her right to teach but she should not go to jail and lose her child. I agree with most of the replies. He was 17 and yes he knew what he was doing. By no means was his innocents taken away. He was probably already sexually active and the laws are saying it would have been ok if he was having sex and seducing a freshman girl in high school with the age of 14yrs? Or is it better that he had sex with an older woman that already was also sexually active?

Boys reach their hormonal peak at around age 19, while women generally hit theirs in their late 30s to mid-40s. I'd say this incident was part of God's Great Plan.

When I was 15 I had a affair with a 23 year old.
I kept it close to my heart no one ever knew about it.
Today these kids blab it to everyone. We have a saying in the Navy.
Lose lips sink ships. Kids are not the same today as when I was that age.

REALLY MMA Matt?? That's not what you told me! YEAH I'm talking to YOU, Wade.

oh for Christ sake leave the poor woman alone...for crying out loud what kind of demented double standard hypocritical society we live in when all we ever do is promote sex...sex in the music...sex on t.v...in the movies...in the cartoons (have you seen the figures on the super heroes, men and woman)...sex on billboards...on the internet...sex education for grammar school kids...sex everywhere....this 16 year old has been exposed to sex in the most overt ways his whole life..he isn't some pure innocent little flower like John Boy in the Little house on the Prairie....and I guarantee you he was not a virgin when this woman found him...most kids are having sex by age 14 now-a-day...so give me a break

The real victim is not the 17 yr old....the real victim here is the 2 year old if her mom goes to jail for 186 years that would traumatize the child more then anything. So what she "did it" with a student im sure he looks at porn with women who are just as old. Stop trying to attack someone if he wanted it then let it be and not take this mother away from her child.

Its not fair that this 2 year old would have to know her mom through a window on visitation..now thats child abuse if anything I hate the law they protect the dummest crimes and make it sound so bad but meanwhile the real pedophiles get more protection and get away with it for years (penn state scandel) and be sound out to be victims. BOOO AMERICA!

So, he's seventeen, almost 18, which means he would be old enough to go to Iraq or Pakaistan and kill or get killed, , at seventeen, he knew what he was doing, so as far as I am concerned, only thimng wrong would be, if they did it at the school.

So, the seventeen year old male, who will soon be eighteen, which menas he will be old enough to kill or be killed in the military, is not old enough to have sex? The only thing wrong that I can see, is IF they would of had sex at school, but otherwwise, he's old enough to know his in's and out's....

Not that I condone her behavior, but 186 years? There are murderers who don't even get that kind of time.

Oh please, youthful innocence my rear end. There was NOTHING wrong morally, just less than a year & it would have been "legal". 186 years in prison? What kind of monstrous society have we become? Total nonsense

186 Years? I don't agree when a teacher has sex with someone who is underage. But when someone gets less than 25 years for murder and she can get 186 for that. The justice system needs to change a little bit.

Umm, if, the sexes were reversed, (male teacher, female student) everyone would be saying the teacher, should be shot, and the poor student needs therapy. Soooo, why, since women want to be treated equally, dont we treat this female teacher, like any other male teacher that has sex with a student?

When I went to school, the teachers looked like they were abducted from a funeral parlor and given a classroom...Old and ugly is all I can say..the thought of me doing anything with one of them is totally mauseating....Lucky kids nowadays...dang...born too early...AH WELL....such is life....nuff said....

Apparently some of the male students in my high school art class along with myself were abused by our pretty, 25 year old art teacher back in the 1970's. Strange, we didn't feel abused or victimized by her, and no one complained. We were 16-18 years old at the time, so what did we know?

I wish people would understand the difference between "innocents" and "innocence." I have only seen one person use it correctly in all of these replies, but several use it incorrectly. You don't take away someone's "innocents." You take away their "innocence." There, that is your lesson for the day from a teacher who can't take all the terrible spelling and grammar. (Don't even get me started on "their" and "there."

Give me a break! What does it matter if they were having sex or not? At 17, that guy knew what he was doing, and I am sure he wanted it just as much as she did! I know I would do her, and I bet I would enjoy it. Why don't the police and the courts concentrate on real crime, not this kind of nonsense?

When I was 17 ... all my friends and I used to think about was picking up girls and getting laid. What she did was wrong (age wise by approx. 1 year), but don't go telling me this kid was innocent. And, there is no way this woman should even get close to 186 years in prison. The prosecuter in this case must be sexually repressed to even consider that sentence. Top mob figures and some murderers don't even get close that. This just goes to show you that our justice system really stinks. As far as the baby being in the house ... it could have been asleep in another room. They make it sound like she had sex in front of the child. Anything to perk up the story when it comes to the press.

16 years! The boy knew what he was getting into and I feel sorry for the poor teacher, 186 years or is it life in prison? Must thank the media for being too nose. The boy's inner him will not let him have a normal life knowing that someone is dying in prison because of his untrusted life... I wish she would be given a five year or less sentence...

The teacher is facing 186 years in prison? While I don't condone her actions I'm wondering - how much time would she be facing if she beat up or killed the 16 year old boy? Don't really think the punishment fits the crime....

When smart people do stupid things, no consequence what ever the amount would change it! You have to be in a very dark lowly place.....to just not care about the consequence.

We keep thinking the teacher was the one doing the pursuing! When I was 16 I learned the power of my tongue and had a cocky arrogance that I could talk any women in to bed. At 17 I charmed a 36 year old married woman that I worked into having sex with me.....it was easy, she was in a emotionally low point in her life and I could read it! The kids to day would have called me a player! I gave my life to Christ a few years ago and have lots of regrets for the women I preyed upon takeing advantage of them in times of need . All I am saying is there are two sides to every story.....I would feel horrible right now if that 36 year old would have lost everything and had to go to jail because all i wanted was to get a lil! and preyed on her when she was vulnerable..just my 2 cents

I have read all the preceding commenst and while may have true validity I found Lil's and Ronald Smith's the MOST truthful. What I really want to say here is the majority of people need to pull their purtinical head out of their azz and understand what is happening. This is not about a a teacher in a superior position molesting a young man. At this stage of the game is is about how much money the media and legal system can milk from this scenario. You want to talk about rape?........that is what the media and our government is doing to the sheep that sit behind a computer screen whine for a bit until the next inflammatory story hits the media but never does anything to change anything but whine to another email person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please forgive my being a bit inarticulate in my last post......I was more than a little angry over some of the idiotic replys in the email chain. I think you get the meaning of my comments though......unless your one of the idiots I was referring to.......

Ok......one last provactive thought. Why do so many sit here night after night inputing or thoughts , our personal realities into situations such as this when none it will have even a smattering of effect of what either of the two primaries in this case have to live with tomorrow? All these comment make no difference in their lives people.....we're only shouting out what make us feel better about it while buying int to another media foster child outlet.

It's amazing to me how many people seem to almost, or actually do condone this behavior. The teacher has a responsibility to her students, school, district and knows the boundaries of that position when she begins her career at age 20 something. I also saw where someone made a reference to Van Halen singing "Hot for Teacher". They do not cross the line into the actual act in that song & I agree it deals with a teen fantasy. The way the reference was presented actually is so far off in my eyes! Van Halen only acknowledges the boyhood musings & wonderings in a comical way. Makes me wonder if the writer still holds the Beatles responsible for Charles Manson, or Marilyn Manson for all suicides. Wake up! It does not give permission to do what Shannon Cardinal did. It's amazing to me how many almost blame the 16 yr. old for this rather than the teacher-- i.e. his hormones, etc. What is wrong with you people? That is still like blaming the victim of rape for the rape and letting rapists go free. I thought as a society we had progressed far enough to get beyond those narrow minded thoughts.

Pretty scary that so many feel sorry for a middle aged woman who should have known better.