Yet another “teacher of the year” has been arrested in the epidemic of educator sexual abuse in the U.S., this time one in Mississippi who was recently promoted to assistant principal but is now charged for allegedly having sex with a student.
Police arrested and charged Olivia Marie Smith on Thursday, following a tip they received in June that she allegedly engaged in the illegal behavior while employed at Ocean Springs Middle School in Mississippi, Biloxi’s Sun Herald reported.
The exact age of the student or what school he or she attended has been withheld.
Ocean Springs is a Gulf of America community of about 18,000 residents across the bay from Biloxi.
Smith won a teacher of the year award while an instructor at the middle school in 2022 and the district recently promoted her to assistant principal at Oak Park Elementary School, according to the Sun Herald.
Police have charged Smith with sexual battery, which in Mississippi caries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. She was also charged with “enticement of a child to meet for sexual purposes.”
During a circuit court hearing, Smith’s bond was set at $50,000 for each charge, bringing the total to $100,000.
“We understand the gravity of this situation and the concern it may raise in our community. We want to reassure parents, students, and staff that we are addressing this matter with seriousness and diligence,” Ocean Springs School District officials told WLOX. “The safety of our students and staff members remains our highest priority.”
Smith is not the first teacher of the year in the U.S. to face sex charges, as Breitbart News has reported in several cases in the past 12 months.
In May of last year, a Southern California female teacher with the same honors was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing two of her sixth-grade students.
Also in California in February this year, a San Jose assistant principal and former teacher of the year state finalist was arrested for allegedly attempting to pay for sex from someone he thought was a 13-year-old boy who turned out to be an undercover cop.
An exclusive Breitbart News investigation in March revealed that “educator sexual misconduct” has been described by leading researchers as “rampant” in the U.S. in the past two decades, with reports making national headlines weekly.
As reported in that probe, leading researchers say female perpetrators typically groom their male victims with photos and videos containing explicit sexual imagery, either of themselves or random pornography. With boys, they appeal to their growing sexual interest as they mature.
By contrast, they say, male perpetrators use emotional appeals to groom their female victims, secretly convincing girls they are having a special love-based relationship which then leads to sexual contact.
The disturbing pattern of educator sexual abuse nationwide is occurring in school districts large and small, urban and rural, public and private, secular and parochial.
Causes cited by researchers range from a “culture of permissiveness” to the ability of teachers and students to communicate secretly on the internet, and the reluctance of staff to report suspicious behavior for fear of disrupting school harmony.
https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/07/17/another-teacher-of-the-year-charged-for-having-sex-with-a-student/
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