Hudson County Schools of Technology Superintendent of Schools Amy Lin-Rodriguez said that a High Tech High School teacher accused of grooming, sexually assaulting, and impregnating a former student in lawsuit has been reassigned.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The District is aware of recent media publicity concerning allegations raised in litigation against one of the District’s teachers. The District has also received comments concerning such allegations from members of our community and is aware of related social media posts,” she wrote.
“While the district does not and will not comment on pending litigation, I want to assure our students, staff and our HCST community, that through administrative reassignment and other appropriate action, the concerns raised have been addressed, in order to protect the interests of all parties involved.”
Only HCV reported on pending litigation by a former student, identified only by her initials E.P., on September 1st, who alleged that her former teacher John Jefferson groomed her, sexually assaulted her, and impregnated her over a seven-year period before her parents got involved.
The lawsuit claims that then-High Tech Principal Jospeh Giammarella declined to do anything about the matter since it was not brought to his attention until after E.P. graduated.
According to his LinkedIn page, Jefferson was still serving as a department chair and a social studies teacher heading into the 2021-2022 scholastic year.
Sources with knowledge of the situation said once news of the lawsuit broke, several students became enraged and had discussed publicly protesting his continued employment at the high school.
Other sources had previously told HCV that the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office had been presented with the allegations in the past and declined to prosecute the matter.
