OfficerBlueNew Britain, CT – A 22-year-old female teacher has been charged with three counts of felony sexual assault for having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male student who attended a different school in her school district.
Police were notified on Jan. 12 of a sexual relationship between Tayler Boncal and an unidentified student, according to the warrant obtained by WTIC.
Boncal was finishing her teaching degree last year when the male student was in the social sciences class that Boncal was teaching.
Boncal later finished her degree and was hired by the school district as a track coach. While she was a track coach, the 18-year-old student, who attended a different school than where Boncal taught, asked for her phone number.
The two then began texting for a few weeks before they began dating in late December 2017.
Even though the Boncal didn’t teach at the student’s school, another student approached West Hartford’s School Resource Officer to report that the two were in a relationship.
Police investigated and determined that the two had sex multiple times during their relationship, and that all incidents occurred off of school grounds.
The student’s parents said that the two were in love and requested that Boncal not be prosecuted.
The school district fired Boncal and a judge issued a warrant for her arrest on Jan 25 for three counts of sexual assault in the second degree, a felony.
The sexual assault statute specifically prohibits people from having sex with students who attend a “school under the jurisdiction of the local or regional board of education which employs the actor,” regardless if the suspect was actually their teacher.
Boncal turned herself in on Thursday.
Conard High School Principal Julio Duarte released a statement to parents which said:
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The safety and well-being of all students is and will always be my number one priority. I know that there have been rumors amongst students these past few weeks. Now that the police action has concluded, I am able to inform you of an incident that I was made aware of between a former student teacher/assistant coach and a student.
Once I received the misconduct complaint, I immediately informed the police and launched an investigation. While I cannot comment on the specifics of the investigation, I can tell you that this person no longer works at Conard. The incident did not occur on our campus and I have been working closely with both the New Britain and West Hartford Police Departments to ensure that this individual is held accountable for their actions.
As educators, we are entrusted to protect and educate all of our students and know there are certain boundaries that can never be crossed. Also, we will not tolerate any behavior that compromises the safety or well-being of our students. I hope you will not let the misconduct of this one individual cast a shadow over all of our staff members who demonstrate their commitment to our students every day.
If you have any questions or concerns about this situation please feel free to contact me.
Do you think that Boncal should be criminally charged for her behavior? We’d like to hear from you. Please let us know in the comments.
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