Posted on 03/25/2005 5:23:41 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
A popular social studies teacher at Ponderosa High School had sex with a troubled 16-year-old male student during several liaisons in her van and at her house, court records say.
Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35, a married mother of two, surrendered Wednesday night to authorities and was advised Thursday that she was being held for investigation of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust, and sexual assault as a pattern of abuse. She was released Thursday on $10,000 bond.
Barnhart and the 10th-grader were spotted together at the end of a dirt road in Castlewood Canyon by a Douglas County sheriff's deputy on March 18. During the police investigation, friends of the boy said he boasted about having sex with his teacher, according to court records.
According to the records, the 13-year-old brother of the student said the boy repeatedly told him they had sex numerous times in her house and van. A 15-year-old friend also said the boy boasted of having sex with her.
On March 10, the 16-year-old had sex with her in her van after she picked him up from lacrosse practice, the brother told police.
The alleged victim told his brother he needed to confide in him but warned him not to tell anyone because Barnhart could lose her job.
Barnhart has been a teacher in the Douglas County School District since 1995 and at Ponderosa since August 2002. She had previously taught eighth-grade social studies at Ranchview Middle School.
"This is very difficult information for us to process," Ponderosa principal Cathy Brondos said. "We will do everything in our power to ensure that the victim's privacy and rights are protected."
According to court records, Brondos told police that Barnhart used to be the cheerleading coach but was removed from the position because "of issues with the cheerleaders' parents." She had been reprimanded for having cheerleaders at her house playing "Truth or Dare," Brondos told police.
Barnhart would cook the 16- year-old boy lobster and other meals at her house, and he would hang out with her children, records say.
Barnhart allegedly was counseling the boy for suicidal thoughts and alcohol and cocaine abuse, according to court records. He was taking antidepressant medication.
A 15-year-old girl said she saw Barnhart and the student at a restaurant, and the two were pressing up close to each other, court records say. The student said it was all over school that Barnhart and the student were having a relationship. The two had walked down the hall with their arms around each other, the girl told police.
On Monday, Barnhart admitted to police that she kissed the boy, and "he begged me - he begged me" for about 20 minutes for sex, records show.
She said she had sex with him only twice. On March 10 they had sex in the back seat of her van, she told police. Five days later, she said, they again had sex in the van.
In an interview with police, the boy said he was "safe" when he was with her.
"I'm bigger than she is," he said in an interview with police.
He worried about his teacher going to jail and losing her job.
Students seemed to like Barnhart's closeness with them, and sometimes she would take students to lunch in her van.
At RateMyTeachers.com, a website where students can offer evaluations, students gave her high scores for not being tough. Out of a maximum score of 5, she received an average rating of 4.3 from 31 students.
Well, is that a shiner she's sporting, or does she carry her luggage under her left eye...?
Teacher's Union Teacher of the Month.
Sex in a van? How 70s. Probably has a waterbed in the back of the thing too.
Too funny.
And this is surprising because why?
Sounds like this kid was living the high life. Lobsters aplenty!
What is going on with these teachers? Have the teacher's colleges lost their collective minds? Or has this been going on for some time and we are reporting more reliably now? Inquiring minds want to know.
Imagine this "Duuuuude, im banging Mrs. Barnhart AND getting lobster!"
Ever notice how NOW keeps their distance when these cases reach the MSM.
Have the teacher's colleges lost their collective minds?
I think if their colleges do know of the sexual activity they refrain from reporting for fear of having their own reputations dragged through the media.
I say send these teachers a one way ticket to the clink.
I thought Astro-Turf was the bedding of choice?
Most sported regular (double bed) mattresses, but some had waterbeds. Of course the picture wouldn't be complete without a 10+ speaker stereo/cassette/8-track system and curtains that separated the two fronts seats from the back area.
Absolutely, but I wonder where they left their brains. In the first place, we were all told to avoid one on one with students of the opposite sex. (I guess now a days you need to avoid the same sex too.) And in the second place, these immature boys and girls who are getting abused will never keep their mouths shut, the teacher will get caught. And thrown in the clink.. I still can't understand the frequency, its way too many.
Looks like her husband took exception to her extracurricular activities.
But at least one student gave her a 69....
I agree that burns would likely be a result from too much tackling on Astro-Turk.
Then Slick Willy must have been a tougher man than we thought.
Didn't he run around in the early 70's in an El Camino with Atro-Turf in the bed?
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