Another James Madison High School Teacher Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

Another James Madison High School Teacher Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
James Madison High School
James Madison High School. Photo by Erica Sherman

Another teacher at the now-infamous James Madison High School in Sheepshead Bay has been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of his students, the New York Post revealed on Sunday. The teacher is the seventh staff member from the school to be accused of sexual misconduct since 2009.

Special-education teacher Robert Cain began a sexual relationship with one of his female students starting in November 2013, according to a report given to the Post last week by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools. The two would meet every day for sex in Cain’s office and later, Cain took the student to a hotel where they had sex and he photographed her with his cellphone, the Post reports.

When confronted by investigators with surveillance footage of him and the student walking into the hotel together, as well as credit card receipts showing he had paid for the room, Cain reportedly said: “So what if I took [the student], it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m not a tenured teacher, and I won’t get a job teaching anywhere. I might as well resign.”

Cain is the latest teacher at James Madison High to be accused of sexual misconduct in the last six years. The school has become so infamous for sex scandals that city tabloids have nicknamed it “Horndog High.” One student even made a rap song about it.

In 2009, two female teachers were fired after a janitor found them half-naked and in an uncompromising position in a dark classroom. (A judge later ruled they could have their jobs back.) Two female teachers were also fired in separate incidents for having sex with students. One allegedly shared marijuana with her student lover from a stash kept on school property; the other was caught with more than 200 calls and texts to a male student from her cellphone. A James Madison gym teacher was also investigated for inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl, though the incident occurred at another school, and an assistant principal was accused of sexual harassment against a teacher.

In the latest affair drawing attention to James Madison, the Post reports that the student would skip her fifth-period class every day to visit Cain’s office, where he would “chase other kids out” and the two would have sex. They later visited the Comfort Inn in Brooklyn, where investigators discovered the surveillance video.

According to the Post, the relationship began to fall apart soon after the winter holidays.

After Christmas break, the student saw other girls in Cain’s office and got jealous. She “believed she was in love with Cain and felt something special with him,” the report says. When the girl heard rumors that Cain was dating a female teacher, she sent him an e-mail advising him to leave her alone. He did not reply, which meant, to the girl, that Cain did not care, she told probers.
A complaint was lodged against Cain in February 2014.

Cain quit his teaching position last July, though no criminal charges have been filed. The age of the student is unknown, the Post reports.