Student Claims Teacher Made Her Pregnant

WASHINGTON (CN) - A public schoolteacher got a special-education student pregnant and left her with a baby and the fear of becoming homeless, the woman, now 20, claims in Federal Court. And she claims the DC public schools laid the man off not for his sexual misconduct, but in a systemwide reduction in force.

Ayanna Blue sued the D.C. Public Schools, its Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her former teacher, Robert Weismiller, for civil rights violations, negligent hiring and supervision and infliction of emotional distress.

Blue says she was attending the Transition Academy of Shadd as an "emotionally disturbed" student when Weismiller, 58, began inappropriate conversations with her.

She claims Weismiller told her, "If I were 30 years younger, I would marry you."

She says, "Throughout the fall of 2008, Weismiller winked at plaintiff in class and kissed her on numerous occasions."

Blue says they had a sexual relationship that lasted for about 5 months, and that they had sex in Weismiller's classroom, in his car and in her house.

She became pregnant, and paternity tests indicate a "99.99% probability that Weismiller is the baby's father," according to the complaint.

She claims that D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) investigated only after learning she was pregnant, but despite numerous "first-hand accounts" from the faculty at Shadd, "DCPS found Weismiller not liable for 'grave misconduct in the office' and not liable for 'other failure of good behavior during duty hours which is of such a nature that it causes discredit to the employee's agency or employment.'"

She says Weismiller was terminated as part of the systemwide reduction in force of October 2009. She says he still calls her.

Blue says she was forced to move out of her mother's house and now lives in a short-term transitional living program in D.C. where she "is not financially able to support her child," and "she fears homelessness."

She says the city schools "knew or should have known that Weismiller had engaged in inappropriate relationships with students in the past."

She seeks compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Scott Gilbert.

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